TimeStorm
by Dany Cmar
Summary: When long forgotten enemies join forces to seek revenge upon the former Ninja Storm Rangers, only Cam and Hunter escape their trap. To save their friends they set out to ask for help from the Time Force Rangers, Wes and Eric. Slash WE, CH. Complete!
1. Prologue: Resurrection Times Two

Cam, Hunter, Wes, Eric and all other characters from Power Rangers belong to Disney/Saban. We are using them without permission, however we are not and don't expect to make money from this. 

This story is a collaboration between Cmar and MzDany. While it is action/adventure, it also contains slash, in the form of Wes/Eric and Cam/Hunter. It's based on background events in MzDany's C/H slash series and Cmar's 'Red Fire' slash series. See our profile for more of an explanation. 

Rated T: some sexual content, some violence. 

**TimeStorm**

* * *

Prologue - Resurrection Times Two

- - -

**_Silver Hills, 2004..._**

"I live." 

That was what he said, although it wasn't true. There was no life in that dusty, forgotten basement under an abandoned warehouse in Silver Hills. There was movement, and activity, and there was even purpose. But no life, not as it is usually understood. 

A tall golden robot opened its eyes, a deep glow shining in their depths. "I live," he repeated. "I am Frax, and I live." 

It was a purer existence than before, purged of any trace of the humanity he had once been a part of. Dr. Louis Fericks had lost his body once before, destroyed in a fire set by Ransik. As he had rebuilt himself in gleaming metal then, so he had been rebuilt again, after his robot body was destroyed in Ransik's service. 

This time, there had been less to work with, nothing left of the human brain and nerves that had once been a man. Frax's faithful cyclobots had not been stopped by that; they had found his broken remains and taken recordings of their master's mental patterns, the ones Ransik had reprogrammed to enslave him, and retreated with them to this hidden laboratory as the final battle for Silver Hills raged. While the city was almost destroyed, while Ransik surrendered, and long after the Time Force Rangers returned to their home, these few cyclobots worked on. While two more generations of Rangers gained and ultimately lost their powers, while they found adventure, danger, and sometimes love, the robots toiled quietly and tirelessly in their hiding place, building a new robot body, constructing a new brain which was, this time, entirely mechanical. 

It had taken time, isolated as they were, without the proper tools and materials, but they were patient. Robots cannot help but be patient. Yet another team of Rangers was facing another menace to the peace and safety of the planet when finally the last pieces had been fit into place, the last bit of programming had been loaded and tested... and started. 

"I live..." But why? The recreated Frax had only fragmented memories of his previous existence. The pain, the loss, the betrayal. He could remember hatred, and the joy of anticipated revenge, but not that Ransik had been the intended target. He could remember the last thing he had tried to accomplish, the complete destruction of the Power Rangers and of Silver Hills. What he did not remember was that Ransik had given him the order to do it. 

"I must destroy!" 

- - -

**_Reefside, a few months later..._**

Frax stood, staring across an expanse of water to the island he could see in the distance. Had he been human, he might have been afraid, or at least awestruck at its craggy slopes half hidden in mist, and because of his knowledge of who waited there. But he was not human, and all he felt was cold calculation. 

"I will destroy," he remarked to the small group of cyclobots surrounding him. "But I can destroy sooner, faster, and better with an ally." It did not occur to him to wonder at the logic of his own statement. He did not consider the possibility that the urge he felt for a partner - in truth a leader - preferably one who was tall, had long black hair, who dressed in black and wore a mask - was a product of Ransik's modifications to his final programming. That secret was hidden in what was the robotic equivalent of a subconscious. 

His attention returned to the island. "The enemy of my enemy may be my friend. Mesogog is primitive, literally a dinosaur. He is biological, and therefore flawed. But he is strong, and he wishes to destroy." 

Something was happening across the expanse of water. There was the movement of some sort of large vehicle and the flare of an explosion. With a hiss, Frax triggered the teleportation device his cyclobots had built, and disappeared. 

- - -

It was over by the time he found the laboratory, once impressive but now a burning shambles of wreckage. He had seen two humans run from here, escaping. It would have been good to destroy them, but there was no time, not if he wished to find Mesogog. A fast search had discovered no sign of him; the room seemed empty. The master of dinosaurs had been defeated and perhaps destroyed. 

Over, yes. His ally was gone before they could join forces. Frax felt something that was his own version of cold anger. Defeated again, by Rangers no doubt, just like before. Quickly he looked about for something to salvage from this situation, some tool, some instrument, something to make his time and effort worthwhile before this place could disappear in the final explosion he could sense was coming. 

Something caught his eye. He stepped closer, seeing a large jar sitting on a back shelf, half filled with liquid. It contained what at first sight seemed to be a doll, or action figure - but Frax knew better. His electronic senses told him it was a man, human although there were hints about him of power beyond the normal, alive despite his lack of movement. A man in black leather, an elaborate full mask over his face, a rope of long black hair streaming down his back. Another memory stirred, of tiny, frozen creatures, of bringing them to life and full size to fight for him. Of a tall man in black, with a mask. Of destruction. 

On some robotic impulse, he pulled the stopper from the jar and poured out most of the liquid. His metal fingers hovered over the figure, a spark snapping from them as he delivered an electrical shock calculated to reenergize and revive it. The miniature man shuddered into life, blinked, and looked around in apparent panic. His small voice cried out, barely audible over the sound of flames crackling and a distant explosion. 

"Help me! Get me out of here!" 

"Will you help me to destroy?" Frax asked. 

"Destroy the Rangers? It would be my pleasure!" 

Frax lifted the jar into his arms and triggered his teleportation device again. He had come for an ally, and he had found one. 

- - -

It took only a month, a very short time in which to build a reanimator capable of restoring his new ally to his original form. Lothor - for that was the man's name - did not seem to share that opinion; all he did was whine and complain about the delay. Frax did not care. Impatience was for humans, not for him. He continued to work. 

"How much longer is this going to take? How much longer do I have to stay like this, small and powerless? That traitor, Mesogog... too bad the Rangers destroyed him." Lothor curled the tiny fingers of a tiny hand into a fist as he paced back and forth beneath a chair, protected from being stepped on by the cyclobots as they went about their tasks. "I would have liked to see him die slowly for what he did to me." 

"Mesogog would have been a good ally," Frax said. 

"Hah! I thought he was _my_ ally, and look at the result! I hate being this small. It reminds me too much of a certain, much-hated individual." Lothor looked down at himself. "Well, at least I don't have any fur." 

"Mesogog was powerful. More powerful than you." 

"He - he took me by surprise! He would never have defeated me and imprisoned me in that blasted jar if I hadn't trusted him, that ungrateful reptile..." 

"Perhaps you trust too easily." 

"I trust no one..." Lothor glanced up at him sharply and smiled, the expression contrasting with the coldness in his eyes. "Except you, of course. You saved me. We're partners. In fact, I consider you a friend." 

"We are partners." 

"And together, we will defeat the Power Rangers. I will have my revenge and you will have..." He hesitated and looked up again. "What is it you want, again?" 

"To destroy." 

"Ah, yes, to destroy. Don't you want something a little more - interesting? Power? Money? To rule the world, maybe? Turn everyone into robots, perhaps?" 

"I want to destroy." 

"Hmm. A little on the simple side, but it has a certain artistic integrity about it. 'Destroy' it is, then! When are you going to make me full size again?" 

"When the machine is finished." 

"Are you sure that thing is going to work?" 

"Whatever Mesogog used on you had an effect similar to the process Time Force used to imprison criminals in a frozen and shrunken state. This is based on the device that reactivated them. There is a 92.723 percent chance that it will restore you to full size." 

"Not a hundred percent? Er - maybe we should test it. We could try it out on a cyclobot or two-" 

"They are more valuable to me than you are in this form. If you have so little courage, perhaps I should search for another ally." 

"No! No need for that." Lothor added in a low mutter, "And no need to be snippy about it either." 

"Good. Because it is ready now." 

"What? _Now_?" 

"Yes." Frax stepped back from the machine he and the cyclobots had been working on in the depths of their hidden laboratory. It was in the form of a cylinder, large enough for a man to fit inside. One section of the curved wall slid aside to form a door. "Go inside." 

Lothor approached cautiously. He stopped. "But what if-" 

"At your present size you are both useless and annoying." Frax raised a golden foot. 

"All right, I'm going! Better to die horribly than go on like this," Lothor grumbled as he climbed onto the platform at the base of the reanimator. 

The press of a button closed the door. Not having human nerves, Frax wasted no time on hesitation as he activated the machinery, watched as bright light flashed from within it, and heard the hum of its electronics. In seconds the door slid open again. A puff of fine mist blew out. And with it came a black leather-clad form, now of a tall man with long black hair, his face behind his mask pulling into a smile, and then a laugh. 

"Finally! I'm back!" Lothor stretched his arms up, fists jabbing into the air. 

"Are you ready to destroy?" 

"Soon, my friend, soon. First, I need to rebuild my army of kelzaks, and work on some more substantial weapons. Make my plans - I mean _our_ plans." He looked around the room. "This place is too limited... we'll need a new base of operations. One where no one is likely to look. Mesogog's island... Even frozen and locked inside that jar, I was still aware of what went on around me. I heard things, and saw them. There was a system of caves underground that may have survived the explosions. Some of the laboratories were hidden there, with equipment we may be able to use." 

"We will see. And then?" 

"You want destruction?" Lothor grinned again and chuckled. "No better place to start than a city I'm very familiar with. It's called Blue Bay Harbor. I have a few scores to settle with a certain group of former Rangers." 

- - -

To Be Continued... 


	2. Life, Interrupted

Cam, Hunter, Wes, Eric and all other characters from Power Rangers belong to Disney/Saban. We are using them without permission, however we have not and don't expect to make money from this.   
This story is a collaboration between Cmar and MzDany. While it is action/adventure, it also contains slash, in the form of Wes/Eric and Cam/Hunter. It's based on background events in MzDany's C/H slash series and Cmar's 'Red Fire' slash series.

* * *

Life, Interrupted

**_Blue Bay Harbor, Ninja Academy, six months later... _**

Cam Watanabe was doing his best to look genuinely exasperated at the blond man who was practically bouncing back and forth before him. 

"Come on, Cam," Hunter said, grinning from ear to ear. "I promise you, we'll have a blast." 

"But why _there,_ of all places?" Cam exclaimed. "There are so many other interesting - not to mention _culturally important_ - places in California!" 

Hunter was not deterred. "Because I've never been there and I'm sure neither have you. And I firmly believe that everyone should have been there at least once in their lives." 

"But Hunter, we're grown men, for crying out loud. Why Disneyland?" 

"Grown men who've never been there." To Hunter, this reasoning seemed to make perfect sense. 

"You've got this firmly implanted in your mind, don't you?" Cam rolled his eyes, but couldn't quite keep his face straight as Hunter came closer, stepping into his private space without hesitation. 

"It would be our first weekend alone together, away from here," he said, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively, and Cam had to admit to himself that when Hunter put it this way the idea was suddenly starting to hold more and more appeal. 

Since the restoration of the Wind and Thunder Academies a year ago, both he and Hunter had put in a ridiculous amount of hours as head teachers of their respective schools, sometimes working for weeks without taking even one day off. There had barely been enough time to sleep, let alone time to spend with each other. 

But the hard work had paid off in the end; the academies were once again flourishing, so certainly they could afford a weekend away, couldn't they? 

"Besides," Hunter's voice pulled him out of his thoughts. "It's only a few hours' drive from here; we'll probably find a really good rate on a hotel room because it's past peak season, and..." he pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket, "I found this coupon in this month's Moto Magazine. Two-for-one admission to the park. Do you know how expensive these tickets normally are? Can't just pass up savings like this." 

The two partners grinned at each other - until Cam suddenly remembered something else. 

"Wait a minute, Blake is coming to visit this weekend. Wouldn't you rather hang out with him?" 

"Nope. Blake's coming to visit Tori. They haven't seen each other in a few weeks so he might just get lucky and end up getting some. I don't want to mess this up for him." At Cam's snort, Hunter's smirk grew a little wider. The samurai held his hands up in mock defeat. "All right. Fine. Disneyland. But I'm driving. I want to get there in one piece." 

"Deal," Hunter said, pulled Cam closer and planted a kiss on his lips. "Splash Mountain, here we come!" 

- - -

**_Silver Hills, a few days later... _**

Wesley Collins was a man on a mission. First: locate the target. He had already looked in most of the likely places. A quick check of the Silver Guardians' exercise yards had turned up nothing. A consultation with the SG dispatcher and the assignment log had revealed his quarry was not out in the field, at least not on an official assignment. He also wasn't with Alan Collins, Wes's father and the man who owned and ran Bio-Lab, where they both worked. He wasn't in his own office. Or in the cafeteria. That left one more spot Wes could think of. 

_Figures he'd be in the last place I look,_ Wes thought as he entered one of the small gymnasium rooms in the SG complex. Anyway, he was now located. Now for phase two: isolate target. Not difficult, luckily the room was empty of anyone besides themselves. Wes closed the door behind him and prepared for phase three: detach target from work and interest him in some fun. Long experience had taught him this would be the hardest part. 

Eric barely acknowledged him with a glance and then returned his concentration to what he was doing, which at the moment was bench presses. Wes said nothing, not wanting to distract his partner while he had a very heavily weighted barbell suspended over his chest. He came closer, watching, reflecting with a smile that the sight of Eric's muscles flexing under skin slicked with sweat was very distracting to himself. 

Finally Eric heaved the barbell onto the rests with a grunt of effort and looked up, wiping his forehead with one hand. "Hey. What's up?" he asked. 

"Funny you should ask." Wes grinned. "Just thought I'd find out what you're doing." 

"Well, now you know." He reached for the bar again. 

"How much longer are you going to be?" 

"Until I finish my workout." 

Wes smiled and sat on the edge of the bench, nudging Eric's legs aside. He reached out to trail his fingertips over his partner's stomach, feeling the dampness of the thin t-shirt he was wearing. "Can't you take a break so we could get out of here for a while?" 

"Still have to work on my abs." 

"Mmm. I love your abs." 

"If you want to keep on loving them, I have to do my crunches." 

"They're not the only thing I love. And I can think of other ways to exercise." 

"I'm on duty. And so are you." Eric's tone was curt, but a smile was beginning to lurk at the corners of his mouth. "What's the hurry, anyway?" 

Wes shrugged. "Things have been slow lately. I'm bored." 

"You're always bored." 

"I won't have any free time at night for the rest of the week. Dad's got a whole string of business dinners set up." 

"That's what you get for being the boss's son." 

Wes leaned closer and used what he hoped was his strongest argument. "And you look so _hot_, all sweaty like this..." 

"Think so?" Eric's eyes moved quickly to the door, reflecting his usual nervousness about being caught in a public display of affection, but he reached up to grab Wes's uniform jacket and pull him down into a quick but intense kiss. "You know, maybe I could take a long lunch," he murmured softly when their lips parted. 

"What a coincidence. So could I." 

"My house? I've got food in the fridge." 

"We may not have time to eat." Wes planted another kiss as Eric smiled, and stood up. "Don't tire yourself out. At least not yet," he said as he walked to the door. 

- - -

**_Meanwhile, Blue Bay Harbor... _**

"I still can't believe how you set me up," Cam grumbled as he pulled off the main road and onto the unmarked path leading towards the concealed holographic entrance of the Wind Academy. 

From the passenger seat came a chuckle. "That picture's going to be priceless. I'll blow it up and hang it over my bed." 

Cam threw his lover a dark look. "You put that picture of us riding the Teacup ride over your bed and you can sleep with CyberCam from then on." 

Hunter tapped his lips with one finger. "Hmmm, he _is_ your holographic twin, I wonder if he knows that little trick of yours. You know, that thing you do with your..." 

"Don't. Go. There." 

Hunter just laughed while he fished a rectangular device out of the glove compartment. He depressed a button and a few yards ahead of them, the holographic illusion of a row of oak trees dissolved in a shimmer. Cam drove the car onto the academy grounds, the portal immediately closing behind them again. "I still don't know how you managed to get the park cleaning guy to take that picture. Must've bribed him." 

Hunter shrugged, looking smug. "Yup. He was cheap, too. Only five bucks." 

Cam's sharp answer died in his throat as they rounded a corner. Instead of the main training plaza, which would usually have been bustling with ninja students of three different colors, they were presented with a picture of utter destruction. 

There was broken equipment everywhere; cracked and half-burned wooden practice bokken were strewn about the plaza, the raised platform from where Sensei Watanabe had presented them with their graduation scrolls less than a year ago was smashed to pieces; behind it, the large, red banner with the Wind Academy's symbol on it hung in shreds. Wisps of smoke were still curling upwards from half a dozen smoldering spots and the large community building directly behind the plaza was scorched in at least a dozen places, most of its windows having been blown out. 

For a moment, Cam and Hunter were both rendered speechless as a frightening wave of déjà vu washed over them. 

"Oh God, not again," Hunter breathed as they both jumped out of the car and ran towards the stone building they had only put the finishing touches on less than a few months before. The double doors of the communal hall stood open and several figures were emerging from inside. A black-robed man Cam recognized as Sensei Chan, surrounded by half a dozen leather-clad students, strode towards them and even from yards away Cam could see the worry lines etched into the older man's face. Sensei Chan spoke before they even came to a halt before him. "Cam, we've been trying to reach you..." 

"What happened?" Hunter cut him off. 

"We were attacked; it happened only a few hours ago." The old teacher's eyes were blazing with helpless anger. "It was him, Cam. It was Lothor." 

Cam was so shocked that his mind blanked out for a moment. He cast Hunter a look. The Thunder ninja's face was alarmingly pale as he wrapped a shaky hand around Sensei Chan's arm. "Are you sure of that?" 

The Wind teacher nodded solemnly. "It was so much like the previous attack. It caught us completely by surprise. Suddenly, Lothor – together with a golden robot the likes of which I have never seen before - appeared right in the midst of the training grounds during midmorning practice. There was a blinding flash of light and the next thing we knew, the entire plaza was surrounded by kelzaks as well as dozens of bouncing robot-like creatures armed with lasergun-blades." Sensei Chan made a sweeping motion with his hands towards the training plaza where pieces of bronze metal were strewn across the ground. "They attacked right away, but they focused mainly on Senseis Shane, Tori and Dustin..." he cast Cam a glance, "...and your father." Sensei Chan's pained eyes then went from Cam to Hunter. "Your brother happened to be there, too, Hunter. He was waiting for Sensei Tori." 

Cam fought the sudden wave of dizziness that threatened to overcome him. _All the former Rangers and Dad... in Lothor's hands? _

Next to him, Hunter was swaying precariously as well. 

"They fought bravely, we all did, but there were just too many of Lothor's goons. They were overpowered." Sensei Chan looked dismayed. "Lothor teleported them all away. We all tried to get to them before they fled, but there was nothing we could do; it all happened so fast..." Sensei Chan sighed heavily, his gaze sweeping over the wreckage of the main square before it fell back onto Cam. "We would have contacted you earlier, but no one knew where you were." 

_'Because everyone who knew where we were has been kidnapped,'_ Cam thought miserably. 

Hunter raked his hands through his blond mop of hair. "Do you know what he wants with them? Did Lothor say anything about where he was taking them?" 

Sensei Chan shook his head sadly. "No. I'm sorry." The older man looked at the ground, then back at the two head teachers with troubled eyes. "He _did_ say, however, that he'd be back for you two." 

"Let him try," Hunter growled. 

Cam turned to his partner. "Let's take a look at the surveillance tapes of the attack," he suggested. "Maybe we'll come up with something that way." 

Hunter nodded curtly and together they hurried towards a familiar trapdoor imbedded in the ground a few yards away. 

Two minutes later, in Ninja Ops, Cam was seated in his old desk chair before the re-built computer system that now served as the elaborate surveillance and security base for both the Wind and Thunder Academies. Hunter stood behind him, peering intently over the samurai's shoulder as scenes from several cameras showed the attack on the training plaza from three different angles simultaneously. 

Cam forwarded the tapes to the beginning of the ambush; it began with the flash of light Sensei Chan had mentioned. An instant later, the disturbingly familiar figure in his black leather coat was standing right in the center of the raised ceremonial platform, arrogantly surveying the assembled ninjas from behind his mask. It was undeniably Lothor – and he was flanked by a tall, golden robot and surrounded by dozens of his kelzaks and bronze-clad robots aiming the weapons Sensei Chan had described right into the crowd of students. The ninjas scattered, then regrouped in attack formation – with Shane, Dustin and Tori at the forefront. Words were exchanged between the evil space ninja and the former Red Ranger and Cam desperately wished there was audio to go with the recordings. From another angle they could see Sensei Watanabe striding onto the plaza with Blake by his side. Lothor pointed a gloved finger at Cam's dad, shouting silent words, and Sensei answered back in a more dignified demeanor. He waved his wooden staff and Cam didn't need to actually hear any words to deduce that his father was telling his estranged brother to_ Be Gone! _

Now Lothor threw his head back, undoubtedly emitting a dismissive cackle, and raised his arms. A moment later, the entire screen was filled with rapid movement as the army of kelzaks and robots clashed with the Wind ninja students. 

Sensei Chan had spoken the truth; they all fought bravely indeed – even his father was making short work of quite a few of Lothor's black and red clad drones. But only a few minutes into the battle Cam could already tell that the odds were not in the Wind ninjas' favors. 

Tori went down first, hit by a shot from one of the bronze robots' blade guns. Blake jumped in to help her only to get tackled by three kelzaks. Dustin was next, pushed to the ground with an assortment of robots and drones holding on to his various limbs. 

Shane was the last one standing, but even he eventually had to concede to the overwhelming enemy presence. It took four kelzaks and the blade of one of the bronze-bots at his throat to finally bring him to his knees, though. 

Lothor wasted no time. As each former Ranger went down, he pointed a remote-control looking device at them and each was instantly beamed away in a flash of light, together with the kelzaks and robots still holding on to them. 

The tall golden robot seemed to be giving most of the battle directions to the drone-army, leaving Lothor to stand back and enjoy watching his old enemies get overpowered. With only Sensei left, Lothor stepped down from the platform, walked straight through the chaos of numerous robot-ninja combats and approached his brother. He gripped the old teacher firmly by his upper arm and held up the remote control. 

Cam could clearly see his evil uncle's smirk before he and his father vanished in a flash of light. 

Only moments later, the golden robot and the rest of the drone/robot army followed suit. 

Cam sat frozen in his chair, staring at the Wind ninja students' subsequent confused hustle-bustle on the screen without seeing any of it at all; his mind was with his father and his friends – wherever they were right now. 

An angry growl came from the direction of his shoulder. "This is like...total déjà vu, you know that, right?" Hunter said. 

Cam kept his eyes on the computer screen. "Yeah, except this time he didn't take the entire school. Only the Rangers. 

"And Dad," he added in a voice not much louder than a whisper. 

He felt Hunter's hand on his shoulder. Then the Thunder ninja's voice sounded from behind him. "Jesus – he's settling a score." 

It was the same thing Cam had been thinking, but to hear his presentiment spoken out loud sent a wave of ice water through his veins. He turned his head, locking eyes with his partner. "We need to find them. Fast." 

Hunter nodded gravely and for a moment Ninja Ops was completely silent as the two young men pondered their options. 

Cam spoke first. "I think the first thing we should do is look at where Lothor would be most likely to hide." 

Hunter cocked his head. "Well, we blew up his ship, so I guess that narrows the search parameters down to 'Earth'." 

Cam blew out a puff of air. "Why is this not making me feel a whole lot better?" he mumbled. Then his eyes narrowed and he turned back to the screen, fingers poised over the keyboard. "Maybe we should tackle this thing from a different angle...Let's see if we can come up with some kind of information on that bad C3PO impersonation he had with him. It definitely wasn't one of his usual monsters. And neither were those bouncing bolt-brains..." 

Cam typed into his computer and the screen narrowed down to a close-up of the golden robot. The samurai hit keys in rapid succession and the screen changed. A new window popped up, filled with colorful symbols, dozens of them. Hunter recognized the Wind and Thunder Ranger symbols, but the others were unfamiliar to him. He was smart enough to make an educated guess, though; they were the symbols of Rangers and Power Rangers Teams Past. Cam's Power Ranger Database. 

"Let's compare this thing with the catalogued monsters in the Archives," Cam said. "Hopefully, something will come up." 

After some more key-punching, the computer emitted a beep and the screen changed to a full-bodied, rotating version of the golden robot. To the right side of the picture, lines of writing appeared. Hunter and Cam both squinted at the screen. 

"Frax. Doesn't ring any bells," Hunter said. 

"With me neither," Cam concurred, "But it says here that he was the right-hand man of an escaped mutant criminal from the future - some guy named Ransik. The active Rangers team at that time were the Time Force Rangers and they finally defeated Ransik and his gang about four years ago." Cam's brows furrowed. "Strange thing is, though, it says here that Frax was destroyed in the final battle." 

By now, Hunter was frowning as well. "Think Lothor rebuilt him somehow?" 

Cam shrugged. "I don't know. I don't even know where Lothor came from again all of a sudden. We know he teamed up with Mesogog, but when the Dino Rangers destroyed that freak and his fortress, I figured that that was the end of Lothor as well." He cast Hunter an upward glance. "We haven't seen or heard from him ever since, after all." 

A dark look crossed Hunter's face as he glowered at the screen. "Guess it wasn't." 

"Yeah, I should have known better." 

Hunter took a step forward, propped his hip onto the computer console and folded his arms across his chest, looking down onto Cam intently. "Well, no matter how Lothor somehow survived Mesogog's destruction, our first priority is to find his new base. That's the most likely place he would be holding the others." 

Cam nodded. "We should talk to the Rangers who battled Ransik and Frax, then. Maybe they would know of a secret lair, an abandoned hideout, something like that. If the records show that Frax was destroyed, he might feel safe enough to return to an old hiding place – if he thinks no one is looking for him anymore." 

"It's a possibility." Hunter looked back at the computer screen. "Do you have any data on those...what were they called again?" 

"Time Force Rangers. I'm pulling it up right now." A few more key strokes and Frax's rotating picture was replaced with half a dozen close-up headshots of four men and two women. 

Cam pointed. "Well, there were six of them altogether. According to the archives, four of them returned back to their own time to bring Ransik to trial. Two of them stayed behind because they weren't from the future but actually from this time period." 

The blond ninja peered at the pictures. "Which ones?" 

Cam isolated two headshots; the image of a blond young man with a lighthearted grin and another one of a black-haired, hard-faced man with Asian eyes and a scowl on his face. _Ying and Yang_ immediately came to Cam's mind, but he said, "Wesley Collins, the Red Time Force Ranger, and Eric Myers, the Quantum Ranger. Says here they are still active. They are working for a company called Bio-Lab in Silver Hills." 

Hunter pushed away from the console. "Just a streak away. Let's go." 

- - -

**_Silver Hills, Eric Myers' house... _**

"Man, Dad and his meetings," Wes complained as the two of them walked from Eric's car to his front door. "Figures he'd call one for just before lunch and expect both of us to be there." 

"At least he fed us. Saves some time," Eric answered as he dug in his pocket for his keys. 

"And money, right?" Wes grinned. 

Eric gave him a quick scowl. Had to keep up his image and pretend to be irritated by Wes's teasing about his fondness for saving money, not that his partner was fooled for a moment. "Just hurry up," he growled as the door opened. "We don't have all day." 

"Always the romantic, aren't you?" 

"Get your butt in here." He closed the door behind them. 

Wes kissed him, hard, the moment the lock clicked, and began to pull him towards the bedroom. He fumbled with the buttons of Eric's uniform jacket, not an easy task with their bodies pressed together. "Since you're in such a hurry, I'll just rip your clothes off..." he murmured. 

"Are you nuts? You know how much these things cost?" 

"Yeah, I sign the purchase orders, remember?" 

They wrestled with the uniforms, trying to undress each other and only getting in each other's way. Eric managed to get Wes's jacket open and pulled it down around his elbows. At least they had already gotten out of the equipment harnesses; he could just picture one of their blasters going off accidentally at an inappropriate time. 

Clumsily they bumped into the bed; Eric pushed Wes onto it and triumphantly climbed on to straddle him, reaching up to yank his own t-shirt off. The trousers required another struggle, both of them laughing now before Wes threw him off and pulled down his pants and underwear, and Eric returned the favor. Another few seconds to shed their boots, and then the laughing stopped as they stretched out, skin to skin and mouth to mouth, anticipation melting into reality... 

The doorbell rang. They both froze. 

"Don't answer. They'll go away," Wes whispered, as if whoever it was could hear them. 

The bell rang again, followed by impatient knocking. "Apparently they won't," Eric muttered. 

"Are you expecting anyone?" 

"Hell, no. Wasn't even expecting to be here myself." 

"So just pretend nobody's home." 

"Kinda hard to do when my car's parked in the driveway." The bell rang again. Reluctantly Eric got up. "Goddamn it, who the hell goes around bothering people at home...?" he muttered ferociously, reaching for his pants. "Stay there; I'll get rid of them." 

"No hitting." 

"I'll try to control myself." Unfortunately the sight of his lover on the bed, naked and waiting, did nothing to sooth his annoyance at the interruption. Still grumbling, Eric pulled on his t-shirt, paused at the door long enough to fasten his belt, and peered through the peephole. Two completely unfamiliar faces waited outside, two young men, one dark and one blond. Impatiently, Eric opened the door and glared at them. 

They stared at each other for a moment. One of the newcomers was an Asian man wearing glasses, about his own height and a few years younger. The other was a little taller and looked maybe twenty at most. 

"Eric Myers?" the Asian man asked. 

"Yeah. Who are you and what do you want?" 

"My name is Cameron Watanabe. And this is Hunter Bradley." He held out a hand. Eric ignored it. "We're - uh - from Blue Bay Harbor. We came here looking for you and Wesley Collins." 

"What the hell for?" 

"Look, could we come in and talk?" 

"No. If it's Silver Guardian business, call my office and make an appointment." Eric stepped back, reaching to slam the door shut. 

To his surprise, the blond man was faster; he pushed forward and matched Eric glare for glare. "I thought Rangers were supposed to help people, not slam doors in their faces," he said in a low but angry voice. 

"Listen, kid, me being a Ranger doesn't give you the right to come knocking on my door-" 

"Eric, what's the problem?" Wes's voice came from behind him. Eric watched the two visitors sharply as his partner stepped to his side. Their eyes moved from Wes to him and back, but with no visible sign of suspicion. 

"Are you Wes Collins?" the blond asked. 

"Yeah." With a half-smile, Wes reached out to shake hands. "What can we do for you?" 

The Asian man sighed, raising a hand to a green pendant on a cord around his neck. The blond held up his arm, revealing a device strapped to his wrist, a device Eric immediately recognized although it was different in the details of its design from his and Wes's morphers. "We're Rangers, too. Or we were. And we need your help." 

- - -

To Be Continued... 


	3. Square One

Cam, Hunter, Wes, Eric and all other characters from Power Rangers belong to Disney/Saban. We are using them without permission, however we have not and don't expect to make money from this.  
This story is a collaboration between Cmar and MzDany. While it is action/adventure, it also contains slash, in the form of Wes/Eric and Cam/Hunter. It's based on background events in MzDany's C/H slash series and Cmar's 'Red Fire' slash series.

* * *

Square One

- - -

"...and then we looked up your addresses and came looking for you." Cam indicated that his report was finished by letting his hands fall into his lap. He and Hunter were sitting on Eric's couch, Wes poised on the edge of the chair across from them. Eric was hovering in the background, pacing behind Wes' chair. During Cam's elaborations, Hunter had cast surreptitious glances at the scowling man and he did not like the suspicious look on Eric's face.

Now that Cam had finished speaking, Eric suddenly stopped pacing and faced them, arms crossed before him. "Some things don't add up here."

"Like what?" Hunter hadn't meant to sound snappy, but the thinly concealed hostility in the Silver Guardian commander irked him.

Said commander now fixed them with a penetrating look. "First of all, Frax was destroyed. We blew him to smithereens almost four years ago."

"Well, obviously he has been rebuilt by someone," Cam interjected.

Eric kept ticking off his fingers. "Secondly, if this Luther..."

"Lothor."

"..._Lothor_ has this big score to settle with all of you ex-Rangers, why weren't you two taken as well?"

"We weren't there," Cam replied. "We were away for the weekend."

"Yeah, saved by The Mouse," Hunter mumbled.

"Huh?"

"Never mind."

"We didn't get back to the Academy until a few hours ago and by then, everything had already happened," Cam finished.

Wes and Eric exchanged a glance, but before Wes could pick up Eric's questioning, the dark-haired man suddenly shook his head once again. "I don't buy it. Frax is destroyed."

Now it was time for Hunter and Cam to trade exasperated looks; Cam reached for his oversized green windbreaker he had folded over the arm of the sofa and withdrew a VCR tape from an inside pocket. He wordlessly handed it to Wes, who took it with a puzzled look, and popped it into Eric's VCR player. As the ambush on the school re-played on the TV screen, Eric and Wes watched without commenting, but the look that passed between them at the sight of Frax and the cyclobots didn't need to be put into words.

"The man Lothor took last is my father," Cam said quietly and the look he received from Wes was warm and empathetic.

Eric, however, apparently remained unconvinced. "Okay, that looked like Frax," he muttered. "But that tape could have been faked..."

"So what do you want from us?" Hunter demanded, not caring anymore if the anger he felt showed in his voice. "Signed affidavits? Signatures in blood? Or are you going to wait for Lothor to show up and take _us_ too, before you believe it?"

"I'm not that hard to please, kid. There's one way to prove you're Rangers." Eric's voice was soft, and an unpleasant smile was on his face.

Cam held out a hand to stop Hunter's angry response and said reasonably, "We said we're _former_ Rangers. In our last battle with Lothor, the power was drained from my amulet and the rest of the team's morphers. We can't morph."

"So all you can show us is some fancy jewelry."

"Find me a crimson crayon and I'll draw you a picture!" Hunter growled. "That should be about on your level!"

"More like on yours, _kid_. And what's with the 'Crimson Ranger', anyway? Red wasn't good enough for you?"

"Eric, come on," Wes interrupted. "Give them a break. Why don't we just go to this Wind Ninja Academy and see for ourselves?"

"Yeah, well. Could be a trap," Eric insisted. "Even though I vaguely remember hearing about the Ninja Storm Rangers, I've certainly never heard of _secret ninja academies_." Eric drawled out the last three words to make clear what he thought of the whole concept.

"That's the whole idea of 'secret'," Hunter snapped and pointed at the TV. "Besides, you've seen it on the tape."

"Like I said, that tape could be fake."

Hunter threw his hands up in an _I give up_ gesture. Cam took over. He fixed Eric and Wes, who was by now also wearing an expression of growing doubt, with a penetrating look.

"I give you my word that it's not a trap, all right? Once we get onto the school grounds, we'll show you some interesting robot-garbage we've raked up after the attack. That should convince you."

Wes looked up, holding his partner's eyes for a moment, something unspoken passing between them that softened Eric's expression just a little.

Eric still frowned, but he said grudgingly, "All right."

Hunter pushed himself up from the couch, obviously eager to be out of Eric's house. Cam grabbed his jacket, pulled a notepad out of one of the pockets and began to write down directions which he handed to Wes. "These are the coordinates of the holographic entrance portal, together with my cell phone number. Since we're ninja-streaking, we'll be there way before you, but we are going to be waiting right outside the portal."

"Try not to get pulled over for speeding on the way," Hunter said, but Eric ignored him while he glanced over Wes' shoulder. A mysterious little smile appeared at the corners of his mouth.

"Oh, don't worry about us," he said, studying the coordinates on the paper in his partner's hand. "We have our own transportation – so we'll probably be waiting for _you_ there."

- - -

And they did. By the time Cam and Hunter arrived at the familiar pond with the holographic waterfall, the two figures in their navy blue uniforms and red berets were already lounging in the soft grass by the water's edge. Wes merely grinned at them while skipping a stone over the pond's glistening surface whereas Eric, wearing a smug expression, greeted them with, "About time. We were about to break out our fishing gear."

Hunter put his hands on his hips. "All right, how did you..."

"Being Time Force Rangers has a few advantages, kid," Eric exclaimed, still smirking. "One of them is transportation with a 30th century twist."

Hunter clearly wanted to know more, but Eric just as clearly wasn't going to elaborate any further, so Cam broke the stalemate by turning towards the pond. "Let's go, everybody. We all made good time getting here; let's not waste any now."

With that, he walked right out _onto_ the water, towards the waterfall and through a quickly widening circle in its midst. Now it was Hunter's turn to smirk at the astonished looks on the Time Force Rangers' faces.

Once on Academy grounds, Cam led Wes and Eric right towards the main training plaza, which, despite the clean-up efforts of the Wind ninja students, still showed some of the signs of battle – the most obvious was the large pile of bronze metal scraps heaped several feet high off to the side under a tree. Eric bent down, picking up a few pieces, including a lasergun-blade. For several long moments, he wordlessly inspected various random parts before he finally lifted his head and gave Wes one curt nod.

Wes never touched anything; his partner's concession was proof enough for him. He turned to Cam and Hunter. "All right, they were cyclobots. That means we can now safely assume that Frax is real as well," he said gravely, then shook his head. "It just doesn't make any sense: Where did he come from; where did all those cyclobots come from? I could have sworn we destroyed them all in the final battle. It certainly seemed like they were _all_ in Silver Hills that day, kicking my butt." He ran a hand under his beret, scratching his head.

"Sensei Cam, Sensei Hunter!" The voice belonged to an older Asian man in a black robe striding towards them. He came to a halt in front of them, then bowed first to the two ninjas, then to the Silver Guardian Commanders.

"Senseis, I am glad to see you. I was worried when you were suddenly gone. In light of recent events..."

Cam smiled. "Thank you for your concern, Sensei Chan. We went in search for some help to locate Dad and the others. Has there been any news while we were gone?"

The old teacher looked rueful. "I'm afraid not. We have doubled the perimeter patrols and sent scouts through the immediate area, but no clues to Sensei Watanabe's and the others' whereabouts have been discovered."

Cam, Hunter and the Wind teacher exchanged a few more words before Sensei Chan excused himself, leaving the blond and the black-haired man standing in the grass with sagging shoulders and dispirited expressions.

Wes turned to them. "Senseis?" he asked, eyebrows raised in question.

Hunter nodded towards Cam. "He's the head teacher of this academy."

Cam mirrored his partner's head movement. "And Hunter is head teacher of the Thunder Academy."

Wes showed his astonishment openly, but Eric remained blank-faced. Hunter thought he could see a trace of new, grudging respect in those dark Asian eyes, though.

Eric straightened up and tossed the severed robotic arm he was holding back onto the pile. "So now we know that Frax and his boltbrains are back, where do we go from here?" He looked between the two blonds and Cam. "We're still on square one."

Depressing silence hung over the four men for a moment until Wes sighed. "Okay...obviously the most pressing question at this point is where Frax and Lothor's new base could be, because that's where they would be building their cyclobot army and..." he fixed Cam with a look. "...most likely that's also where they would be holding your dad and your friends."

"Well, where was Lothor's old one?" Eric wanted to know.

Cam rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "The last time we battled him was after he had turned the Wind Rangers evil. I remember Tori saying afterwards that he had been using the Cave of Souls as a hideout."

Hunter shrugged. "Might as well check it out. Not like we have any better ideas right now."

- - -

Since Cam and Hunter only knew the path by memory and couldn't give directions, and Wes and Eric couldn't ninja-streak, they all decided to walk this time. It took almost two hours of steady hiking through the woods of the Blue Bay Mountains to get to the Cave of Souls and by the time they finally reached its hidden location by the concealed beach cove, they were all due for a rest. Eric and Wes sank down onto the leaf-covered ground by the edge of the forest, panting heavily.

"Jeez, I thought I had left forced marches behind when I got discharged from the Army," Eric murmured. Wes didn't have the breath left to answer. Their dark blue uniforms, utility belts and heavy boots had been anything but beneficial for this trek.

Next to him, Cam pointed. "The cave entrance is on the far side of the beach. Why don't you guys stay here and rest for a bit while Hunter and I go check out the surroundings?" Without waiting for consent, the two ninjas took off, vanishing stealthily between a row of pine trees.

Crouched low, they crept silently from trunk to trunk until they were hidden behind a big boulder from where they knew they would have a clear view of the cave entrance. Cam moved to peak around the boulder, but Hunter's sudden grip on his arm stopped him. He turned to see his partner peering at him intently.

"I just wanted to say...I'm sorry," Hunter said.

Cam cocked his head, puzzled. "For what?"

"If I hadn't dragged you off to Disneyland..."

Cam held up a hand. "Whoa, stop right there. None of this is your fault, okay?"

"But if we had been here..." the blond ninja began, but Cam once again cut him off.

"If we had been here, we'd have been captured right along with them, Hunter."

"At least we'd be with them, though."

"And have no hope of outside rescue." Cam shook his head in emphasis. "Don't you think they're banking on us to find them? You know they're keeping their spirits up knowing that we'll move heaven and hell to rescue them." The samurai reached out, running the backs of his fingers over Hunter's cheek. He was suddenly very close. "So no, don't beat yourself up over this, okay?"

Hunter nodded feebly. "Okay."

Their lips met for a gentle kiss that would have continued longer if a noise from the beach hadn't suddenly caught their attention.

They carefully peered around their respective sides of the boulder and onto the beach – where a large cluster of very familiar helmeted figures in black and red suits were scurrying to and from the entrance of the cave like worker ants. Each one was carrying pieces of equipment in various sizes and shapes, dumping it all onto a rapidly growing pile at the beach a few yards away.

Hunter and Cam pulled their heads back behind the boulder just in time to see Eric and Wes creeping towards them. Cam made a _'stay low'_ motion with his hand, alerting them to the enemy presence. Both Silver Guardians took their own careful peek from behind the big rock. "Lothor's goons," Wes hissed. "Have you seen _him_ yet?"

Hunter shook his head. "I dunno what's going on down there, but it looks to me like they're _cleaning out_ the old headquarters rather than moving in."

Cam looked between Hunter and the Time Force Rangers. "Well, why don't we just ask them what they're doing? Nice and polite, of course." He nodded towards the kelzak-assembly. "Wanna do the honors?"

Hunter grinned. "With pleasure. Man, just like old times!" With that, he jumped up and skidded down the short decline onto the beach, Cam hot on his heels. Wes and Eric lingered long enough to exchange an exasperated glance before they took off after the two ninjas.

Cam took on the nearest two kelzaks while Hunter went barreling towards a cluster of four drones a few feet further away. Cam wasn't worried that his partner would be outnumbered; Hunter had his elemental powers, after all. And the former Crimson Ranger promptly made use of them as he sent a bolt of dark red lightning at two of the black/red clad creatures while taking out the other two with one flying kick.

Cam turned his attention to his drones; he didn't possess an elemental power, but he wasn't completely 'unarmed'. He jumped over one kelzak, ramming his elbow into the goon's back and immediately moved on to deliver a fierce drop-kick to the second drone's shoulder. His opponent went down like a sack of flour.

Spotting movement at the periphery of his vision, he went down on one knee and flipped a few ninja beams at his next attacker. The fallen drone was immediately replaced by two more coming up behind it and Cam scrambled back to his feet, meeting their dual attacks with a combination of kicks and punches. He lunged at one of them, grabbing the drone by the tuff of black hair on top of its helmet, spinning it around and sending it staggering into the arms of its twin. He followed up with a kick into the kelzak's back and was about to deliver a finishing blow when he heard a disturbingly familiar cry behind him.

Hunter was in a bind; he wasn't exactly sure how it had happened, but somewhere between punching a kelzak to his right and kicking another one to his left, a few more had snuck up on him from behind and now a rough circle of black and red clad bodies had formed around the blond Thunder ninja – and they were closing in.

With an audible growl, Hunter thrust his fists into the air, calling upon his thunder powers, and promptly his arms lit up, crimson electricity crackling and running from his fists to his shoulders and back.

The spectacle had the desired effect; the kelzaks' charge slowed, then stopped altogether, the drones suddenly keeping a respectful distance from the charged-up young man they had planned on overrunning.

A few yards away, Eric happened to catch Hunter's pose.

"Christ, he looks like a one-colored Christmas tree," Eric mumbled to himself before he jumped over a kelzak's sword as the goon went for his legs. The drone received a kick in the faceplate for its efforts and it hadn't hit the ground yet before Eric already moved on to the next opponent.

Wes was also holding his own fairly well. He had floored three of his attackers already and was going for the fourth, sending the drone flying into its twin with a swift kick to the chest. "Hey, this isn't so hard," he exclaimed with a smirk as he flipped another kelzak over his shoulder. "Matter of fact, this is kind of fun."

"Or at least a good work-out." Eric dodged a sword-slice to his side, faked a punch at his opponent's head, then sent him tumbling to the ground with a lightning-quick roundhouse kick. "And _we're_ beating them without any fancy extra powers." He pulled his blaster from his holster and fired, sending two more drones flying, their suits crackling where they'd been hit by the blaster's energy. The noise of a similar discharge behind him told him that Wes had drawn his own weapon.

"Yeah, not too shabby, if I may say so myself."

Eric grinned at the mirth in Wes' voice.

Suddenly there was another crackling noise, unfamiliar this time, and Eric turned his head just in time to see Hunter stepping out of the midst of a ring of smoldering kelzaks. His arms were at his side, now no longer glowing with crimson power, and Eric could imagine where all that energy had ended up. He almost felt sorry for Lothor's fallen goons. Almost.

Eric turned to see a kelzak land a lucky kick into Wes' back that sent him flying a few feet further down the beach. Eric punched the drone into oblivion, then went to help his partner back to his feet when his eyes happened to fall onto the cave entrance. They were about thirty feet from the cave, with Cam and Hunter much closer.

A masked figure emerged from the shadows of the entrance tunnel, black coat flapping about his legs. He raised his arms, pointing them in Cam's direction, and before the green-clad young man could react he was hit with two beams of purple energy that promptly lifted him off his feet, hurling him backwards into the air. Cam cried out in pain, then crashed onto the sand where he lay unmoving.

"CAM!" Hunter was by his side almost instantly. For a moment, the blond man looked as if he was going to charge at the evil space ninja, but then he dropped to his knees and pulled Cam halfway into his lap, his worried eyes running over his partner's pain-filled face while Lothor's evil cackle filled the air.

"This is certainly a pleasant surprise, nephew. Saves me from a tedious Easter egg hunt for you two."

Hunter gave Lothor a furious glare. "Where are Sensei and the others?" he demanded, but the masked man just laughed.

"In a safe location far away from here where I can toy with them at my leisure. But I'm still two pawns short of a full Ranger set before my game of revenge can begin." Lothor took two steps closer to them, pulling a remote control out of his coat pocket at the same time. He was just pointing the device at the two ninjas when the sound of two voices drifted towards them all.

"Time for Time Force!"

"Quantum Power!"

Suddenly, Hunter's view of Lothor was obstructed by the sight of two shapely posteriors clad in red spandex as the Time Force Rangers planted themselves protectively in front of him and Cam.

"And that's how it's going to stay, creep," came Wes' voice from behind his helmet.

"As a matter of fact, I think we'll relieve you of a few game pieces," Eric's voice added.

"Ah, some new playmates, I see," Lothor snarled. "For crying out loud, don't you Rangers ever become extinct?"

Wes and Eric's blasters were in their hands in lightning-quick moves. "Where are you hiding them and Frax?"

"You don't seriously think I'm going to tell you, you fools?" Lothor was unimpressed by the weapons loosely pointed at him. He actually took two steps closer to the Rangers and Eric aimed his blaster.

"Looks like we'll have to use some more effective methods of persuasion," he said, but before he could pull the trigger, Lothor let out an angry growl and leapt into the air, bringing his leg down onto the Quantum Ranger's chest. Eric stumbled, but managed to stay upright. His and Wes' blasters, however, were now useless in such close quarters, so a fierce and rapid fistfight ensued instead between the two Time Force Rangers and the evil space ninja. It didn't take long until it became obvious that the Red and the Quantum Rangers were gaining the upper hand on their opponent, but by now half a dozen of the fallen kelzaks had pulled themselves back together and were rushing towards their master's aid, effectively diverting the Red Ranger's attention away from the masked ninja.

Some of them were also coming for the two young ninjas still crouched on the sand. Cam was in no condition to fight, so it was up to Hunter to defend them both against the fresh wave of Lothor's drones.

A few feet away, Eric and Lothor found themselves just about evenly matched. Neither gained nor gave much ground, but Eric was pretty sure that the masked man was already thinking about pulling some dirty tricks from under his sleeves. He had seen how those purple energy beams had felled Cam and he didn't want to be on the receiving end of the same treatment. He executed a backwards flip to bring some distance between them and converted his Quantum Defender to blade mode.

Lothor promptly froze and scowled at the sight of the impressive saber. The battle now quickly took a serious turn in Eric's favor as he drove the evil space villain back with a series of slashes and stabs until Lothor leapt up onto a tall boulder out of reach of Eric's weapon, growling as he saw Wes shake off the kelzaks around him, summon his twin chrono-sabers, and rejoin the main battle. Lothor pointed a gloved finger at the Quantum Ranger.

"This is not over yet, you hear? I _will_ have my revenge," he cried, eyes ablaze with fury as he directed them towards Hunter and Cam. "Don't make the mistake of thinking you're safe!"

And with that, he teleported away in a flash of light, taking his kelzaks with him. The sudden silence of the beach was deafening.

Wes hurried across the sand and knelt by Cam's side. "You okay?"

The samurai's face was still strained, but he managed a weak grin as he rubbed his chest. "Yeah, it's just that without the Ranger suits, those beams really sting."

"Think you can get up?" Hunter asked, already slipping an arm around the Asian man's waist. Cam nodded and pulled himself to his feet with the blond ninja's help. When they both stood, their heads were quite close together and Cam suddenly raised his eyes to cast a quick look at the slightly taller man; a gaze Hunter promptly returned. It lasted only a second, but by then Wes had already recognized it for what it was: the same look he occasionally saw on Eric's face in their more private moments.

_'Interesting. How come I haven't picked up on those two earlier?'_ he wondered to himself.

Footsteps were drawing closer from behind him and a moment later, Eric's voice sounded from over his shoulder. "Back to square one. Again."

To Be Continued...


	4. Hope From the Future

Cam, Hunter, Wes, Eric and all other characters from Power Rangers belong to Disney/Saban. We are using them without permission, however we have not and don't expect to make money from this.   
This story is a collaboration between Cmar and MzDany. While it is action/adventure, it also contains slash, in the form of Wes/Eric and Cam/Hunter. It's based on background events in MzDany's C/H slash series and Cmar's 'Red Fire' slash series.

* * *

Hope From the Future

- - -

The sky was just starting to darken as they filed silently through Eric's door and settled down in his living room again. Wes could tell Cam and Hunter were both tired and dispirited, and he had to admit he wasn't exactly cheerful himself. As for Eric - he had gone quiet, always a bad sign. 

"So what now?" Cam asked, looking up from his seat on the couch, next to Hunter. 

"I think it's time to ask for some help," Wes told him. "Frax is from the future. He was supposed to be gone from this time, but since he's shown up again..." 

"Yeah, he's Time Force's problem, not just ours," Eric said. "So we're going to call them?" 

"Yeah." Wes met his partner's eyes and wondered just what Eric was feeling at the prospect of possibly seeing Jen again. Of course, Eric must be thinking exactly the same thing about _him_. They had all parted as friends; Jen knew it was over between them, and why, and she was back with Alex. She knew he was gay and that he and Eric were together now. Still, while he looked forward to seeing her again, the prospect was not without some anxiety. 

He had known the decision was inevitable. When they had stopped at the Collins house on the way back from Blue Bay Harbor to pick up his car and give his excuses to his father for missing their dinner appointment, he had also brought the chrono-communicator. It took only a few minutes to bring it in and set up the thin frame with two upright rods that would project a screen between them that could reach a thousand years into the future. He pressed in the signaling code, and tried not to let his palms sweat as they all waited silently, clustered around Eric's coffee table. 

He heard a sharply indrawn breath from Cam and Hunter's direction as a picture snapped into existence in the communicator. He knew Time Force was likely to direct them to one of their former teammates, so he was not really surprised to see the eagerly smiling face of a young Asian man, topped with improbable bright green hair. He was, however, pleased. 

"_Wes! Eric! Hey, it's great to see you!_" 

"Hi, Trip." Wes grinned, and saw Eric nod. "Great to see you too." 

"_What's up? Who are your friends?_" His smile faltered a little as he caught sight of Cam and Hunter. 

"Cam Watanabe and Hunter Bradley. They're-" 

"_The green Samurai Ranger and the crimson Thunder Ranger! Wow!_" 

"You know who we are?" Cam asked. 

"_Sure! History of early twenty-first century Rangers! Everybody knows about you! At least - everyone in Time Force does._" 

Hunter and Cam exchanged an uncertain glance. Wes knew exactly what it felt like to realize you're a part of someone else's ancient history. "Trip," he continued, "We have a problem here, and it concerns Time Force." He took a breath. "Frax is back." 

"_Frax? But... he was destroyed. We saw him ourselves. He was gone._" 

"Maybe," Eric said. "But he's sure as hell back now, along with his usual mob of cyclobots." 

"He's teamed up with the guy Cam and Hunter went up against when they were active Rangers," Wes said. Quickly he explained the current situation. "So the two of them have kidnapped the rest of the former ninja Rangers," he finished. "Lothor seems to be out for revenge, but Frax - well, he was never too tightly wrapped, and my feeling is he's worse now. We have no idea if he's just working for Lothor or what he's really up to, but for sure it's not good." 

"_I see._" Trip had listened with only a couple of interruptions for questions. _"This isn't in the history files. Must be an aftereffect of Ransik's interference in your time."_

"Is there anything you can do?" Cam leaned forward. "Without our Ranger powers, we need all the help we can get." 

"_You still have your morphers?_" Trip asked. 

"Yes, but they were drained of energy." 

Trip was staring into space now, his voice thoughtful. "_Most of the old morphers needed an energy source... trizirium crystals - maybe they could be adapted..._" His eyes focused on them again. "_I have to talk to Captain Logan, and Alex, and Jen. I'll call you back._" The picture winked out without waiting for a response. 

"Hey!" Hunter exclaimed. "Are they going to help us or not?" 

"They'll do what they can," Wes said. 

"When's that going to be? Who knows what Lothor's doing to my brother and the others right now?" Hunter was on his feet, glaring. "I thought these guys were your friends, and all they do is say they'll call you back?" 

"Wes said they'll do what they can," Eric said coldly. "Now sit down and try to act like a grownup." 

"Eric..." Wes said. 

"Hunter..." Cam said. 

"Damn it!" The blond ninja sat with a thump. 

Cam looked between Hunter and Eric, shook his head and stood up abruptly. "Mind if I get some fresh air?" he muttered. 

Eric pointed. "Help yourself. The back door's that way." 

Wes watched him go. He could imagine how both of them felt; a father and a brother missing, an old enemy returned, their own lives in danger, and themselves forced to turn to strangers for help. And Eric wasn't exactly making things easier. He stood up himself, mumbled an excuse, and headed after Cam. 

- - -

**_The dungeon..._**

Sixteen. It took sixteen steps to walk from one end of their prison cell to the other. Since their involuntary arrival, Shane had tested that fact dozens of times already with his agitated pacing. It was damp, dark and chilly in the small, square room. There were no windows, and the only illumination came from a dirty light bulb on an exposed cable hanging from the low ceiling. The walls, ceiling and floor were of rough stone and there were no furnishings whatsoever in the room. Blake, Tori, Dustin and Sensei sat on the cold floor while Shane kept up his pacing, pausing only every now and then to cast a dark glare at the solid steel door embedded in one side of the wall. 

No one told him to sit down; they understood, for they were all highly distraught by the surprise attack, and especially by Lothor's presence. 

Right after their unceremonious re-materialization in their cell, Shane, Blake and Dustin went to work on the door, using a combination of elemental powers and raw force, but the hunk of steel hadn't budged. Dustin had tried to burrow into the ground only to find that it was almost entirely composed of solid stone, therefore way too dense even for his formidable powers to penetrate. 

They were stuck. So they talked instead. For quite a while they discussed the attack, tossing speculations back and forth only to come up with way more questions than answers. They were also waiting and wondering what Lothor had in store for them – no one doubted for a moment that their old enemy had an evil plan in mind. 

Sensei Watanabe sat next to Tori who was flanked by Blake on her other side. Every time she moved, one of them – or both – would cast her a surreptitious glance, even though she had repeatedly assured them that she was fine. The blast from the robot-drone's weapon was superficial; it had left her feeling sore and was discoloring into a nasty bruise on her right shoulder, but nothing worse than that. 

Their silence was broken by a faint rumbling sound coming from the direction of Dustin's stomach. The Earth ninja rubbed a hand over his belly, an apologetic look on his face. "Sorry. I'm hungry." 

"I'm thirsty," Blake commented to no one in particular. 

"I'm both," was Shane's contribution to the general misery. 

Tori looked thoughtful for a moment. "I don't have any food, but..." She waved her hands before her in a circular motion, eyes half closing in concentration. She cupped her hands, then slowly moved them apart to reveal a blue water sphere the size of a large grapefruit in her right palm. Holding it out to Blake, she said, "We obviously don't have any containers, so you'll just have to suck on it." 

The narrow-eyed look on his face at this peculiar drinking arrangement lasted only a moment before his thirst propelled him forward. He put his lips onto the sphere and carefully slurped up the liquid until it was no more than a small puddle in Tori's hand. 

The Water ninja repeated this process until everyone in the cell had drunk their fill. With a satisfied grin, she leaned back against the stone wall. "I knew I'd have you all eating, well, _drinking _out of the palm of my hand one day." 

They all smiled, but the moment of amusement passed quickly. "Anyone have any ideas?" Shane asked quietly. 

As one, they all turned to look at Sensei. Unfortunately their mentor only regarded them out of calm dark eyes, and his words were not encouraging. "My brother has prepared this cell very efficiently. It seems quite well suited to keeping us prisoner. I am afraid I see no way out for the moment." 

"Hunter and Cam are still free," Dustin said. 

"Yeah, they'll get us out of here," Blake agreed, with more confidence than he felt. 

"Correct. My son and your brother will not rest until they have found us." 

Sensei's tone was full of reassurance, and Tori pretended, along with all of them, to be cheered. Inwardly, she wondered... If and when the door to their dungeon opened again, would they see Cam and Hunter triumphantly walk in to rescue them? Or would they stumble inside to join their teammates as defeated prisoners? 

- - -

**_Meanwhile, Silver Hills..._**

Outside, in Eric's backyard, Cam looked up. The sky was a deep indigo as it faded into dusk, clear save for the single white vapor trail of an airplane. It was... _peaceful_ here. 

A pair of birds was chirping in their cage hanging from a tree. The air was crisp and clean, the temperature perfect for a day at the beach. All in all, it had been a beautiful day - if one overlooked the few small facts that his father and all of his friends were being held captive by his arch enemy in an unknown location and he had no idea where or how to even start looking for them. There was no saying whether the Time Force Rangers would be able to help or when they could arrive, and even if they did, there was no guaranteeing that Trip would be able to re-infuse their morphers with the crystals he had mentioned. A hundred things could go wrong: the crystals might not be compatible with the Ninja Storm morphers, or they might prove to be too powerful and overload or destroy them altogether... 

The beautiful day had suddenly lost its appeal. Cam's glance went from the sky to the ground and then back to the house. He was only mildly surprised to see a human form in the doorway, watching him. 

"Hope you don't mind if I join you," Wes said, stepping out into the yard. 

"Not at all. I just felt like getting into a - a calmer atmosphere for a couple of minutes." 

"Know what you mean." 

"Hunter's not usually like this," Cam said diplomatically, not sure how Wes would take a remark on his own partner's lack of manners. 

But Wes grinned. "I wish I could say the same for Eric. He's really a good guy, just takes him some time to warm up to most people." 

"I suppose so... Are those his?" Cam nodded at the birdcage. 

"Yeah." 

"Seems like a strange choice of pet for a guy like Eric." 

"What were you expecting, a pit bull?" 

Cam chuckled. "Well... the thought occurred." 

"There's a lot about Eric that doesn't meet the eye." Wes paused for a moment. "Just like you and Hunter don't exactly seem like the ninja sensei type." 

"Were you expecting assassins in black?" 

"Something like that." 

"No, that's not our style. Dad and Sensei Omino - the head of the Thunder Academy - developed our natural skills and abilities, like the elemental powers that Hunter and the others have, and taught us ancient, secret techniques like the ninja beams and the ninja streak. They taught us to fight, with honor, and on the right side. The same side as all the Rangers." 

"Sounds like you're close to your dad." 

Cam's eyes took on a far-away look. "I am. My mother died when I was very young, so it's kind of been just us, and the Academy. We've had our problems, of course; sometimes it's not so easy when you've got a father who's involved so much with his work." He smiled, fondly. "Not to mention one who can be stubborn as hell." 

"Tell me about it." Wes sighed. "My mom died a long time ago, too. My dad was all wrapped up in his business while I was growing up. He expected me to follow in his footsteps, be just like him. Didn't take it too well when I decided that's not what I wanted. Talk about stubborn..." 

"When I think of how many times I wished Dad wasn't around to keep me from doing whatever I wanted," Cam said softly. "And now..." 

"Don't worry." Wes dropped a hand on his shoulder. "We'll get them back." 

- - -

Silence had fallen as soon as Wes left the room and Hunter and Eric found themselves with nothing to say to each other. Hunter deliberately didn't look up as Eric moved restlessly around the room, unnecessarily straightening a book here, a picture there. Irritated as he was, there was no point in starting anything, at least as long as they were stuck working together. 

There must be better things to be thinking about, like why they were here in the first place. With a sigh, Hunter reached for his wallet and the small collection of photographs inside it. He found the one he was looking for, a young man's face smiling up at him... 

"Do you always like to stare at pictures of guys?" Eric's voice came from over his shoulder. 

"No," Hunter replied sharply. "This happens to be my brother, Blake." 

Eric leaned in for a closer look at the dark-haired, dark-eyed, definitely Hispanic face. "Yeah, I can see the family resemblance." 

"We're adopted." 

"Oh." There was a brief pause. "Both of you?" 

"Yeah." 

"Man, your adoptive folks must have _really_ wanted kids." 

Hunter shot him a glance. "I guess they did. They're gone now. Died when we were little. It's just Blake and me." _And Cam,_ he added, but only silently. 

"Sorry." Eric's voice, for once, was without any edge of hostility or sarcasm. "Sucks to be on your own. I know all about it." Hunter glanced up again, but something in Eric's manner told him the older man wasn't about to elaborate on that. 

"And now, Lothor's got him, and..." Hunter trailed off and shrugged uncomfortably. 

"You're worried." Again Eric's voice seemed almost... sympathetic. 

Hunter looked up, wondering, but any sign that Eric might actually have a nice guy hiding under that hard-edged exterior disappeared as the chrono-communicator chirped, startling him. 

"About time," Eric muttered, frowning. "Hey, call Wes and Cam, willya?" 

- - -

It took maybe thirty seconds for all of them to take their places again. To Wes's relief, Trip was smiling. That had to be a good sign. 

"_Hi guys. Sorry to keep you waiting._" 

"What can you tell us?" Wes asked. 

"_Good news._" He looked up at Cam and Hunter. "_Trizirium crystals are used in our time as an energy source, for zords and other devices. According to our databanks there's a very good chance they could re-energize your morphers._" 

"That's great!" Cam said. Hunter gave him a relieved grin. 

"_That's not all. We're coming to help you._" 

"You are? The whole team?" Wes asked. 

"_Yeah, Wes. Just like old times. Well, almost. We have to get some stuff ready, and then we'll meet you on the beach, first thing in the morning. Then we can all sit down and work on a plan to locate Frax – and the other Rangers._" 

"That's great, Trip." Wes grinned at Eric, who had managed to produce a faint smile. "Can't wait to see you guys again!" 

After another moment for goodbyes, he looked up at Cam and Hunter. "So that's it for tonight," he said. "You guys must be exhausted." 

"Yeah," Cam answered with a tired smile. "Three long-distance streaks and a fight with Lothor kinda took it out of us. Plus we haven't eaten since breakfast." 

Hunter stood up. "So I guess we'd better get going. We still have to either streak back home or find a hotel room here for the night." 

"No way." Wes waved a hand in the direction of Eric's guest room. "You can stay-" He caught three dismayed expressions just in time. "-at my house. We've got plenty of room, and a kitchen full of food." 

"Uh..." Cam looked at Hunter, who nodded. "Okay. Thanks, sounds great." 

"Go on out to the car, I'll be there in a minute." Wes waited while they said a subdued goodnight to Eric and left. Then he just waited. 

"Okay, you don't have to say it," Eric muttered. 

"What don't I have to say?" 

"That I'm being a jerk." 

"I would never say that. But... can't you lighten up a little? These guys are having a hard enough time as it is." 

"Yeah, yeah." 

"Want to come with us for dinner?" 

"Nah. I don't want to spoil their appetites. Not to mention mine." Eric shoved his hands in his pockets, scowling. 

"Okay, if that's what you want." Wes stepped up to him and leaned in. Eric submitted to being kissed without response at first, but then Wes could feel him relax slightly as their lips lingered. He was even smiling grudgingly when they moved apart. "Goodnight. See you tomorrow morning." 

"Do you have to bring those two?" 

"Funny. Very funny." 

- - -

To Be Continued... 


	5. A Cunning Plan

Cam, Hunter, Wes, Eric and all other characters from Power Rangers belong to Disney/Saban. We are using them without permission, however we have not and don't expect to make money from this. 

This story is a collaboration between Cmar and MzDany. While it is action/adventure, it also contains slash, in the form of Wes/Eric and Cam/Hunter. It's based on background events in MzDany's C/H slash series and Cmar's 'Red Fire' slash series.

* * *

A Cunning Plan

- - -

It was another beautiful day, the sky a clear blue laced with fleecy clouds, the sun bright and warm, the brisk sea breeze carrying a hint of the autumn to come. Eric leaned against his car hood and scanned the highway before looking out over the water. He was first, but Wes should be there soon, with Cam and Hunter. Hopefully before the other Time Force Rangers arrived; he really didn't want to be stuck making conversation with them alone. In fact, he wasn't all that crazy about seeing Jen again at all - the woman he had once been so jealous of, and who now had reason to be jealous of _him_, even if she was back with Alex again. 

He sighed, shoulders slumping slightly, as his thoughts returned to Cam and Hunter. If only the two of them hadn't chosen to come knocking at his door at exactly the wrong time, telling that ridiculous story... Well, their story was _true_, but it was still ridiculous. He hadn't been fair to them, but still... Why was it that Wes never got mad about these things? Wes always found it so easy to get along with people, while Eric always somehow found it so hard. 

With another sigh, he shrugged. He was what he was, and that was unlikely to change. Maybe that was one of the reasons Wes and he were somehow such a good match, because opposites attract... in which case he wouldn't want to change. 

It was only another few minutes before Wes's car pulled in from the highway and parked. Eric watched as the three of them got out, and the four Rangers met where the ground began to slope down to the sand and the water's edge. 

"Any sign of them yet?" Wes asked. 

"Nope." Eric looked the two ninjas over. "Had a good night's sleep?" he asked, his voice half-heartedly friendly. 

"Yeah," Cam nodded. "Biggest bed I ever slept in." Not to mention incredibly comfortable. At first, Cam hadn't believed he would be able to sleep, as tightly wound as he was from worrying about his father and friends, but only moments after Hunter had snuck into his bed from the other guest room, the two of them had drifted off to sleep – wiped out from the events of the day. 

"And getting cheeseburgers and fries served from under a silver dome by a butler in a suit made dinner a lot more interesting," Hunter said with a grin, bringing a soft snicker from Wes. 

"What are we waiting for, exactly?" Cam asked. 

"A timehole," Wes told him. "It looks kind of like a hole in the sky. It's a tunnel through time, and they fly through it in a ship. There's this kind of beam they use to open it up-" 

"You mean like that?" Hunter asked, pointing. 

"Nice timing," Eric commented, looking up. 

A black and purple splotch had appeared over the ocean, rotating slowly like a whirlpool. It expanded rapidly, its center seeming to deepen and open into a passageway shot with sparks of multicolored energy. As they watched, a ship, round except for a funnel-like tail, sped out and veered into a circle overhead, slowed, and finally swooped in for a landing. As Cam raised his eyes again, the timehole shrank and disappeared. 

Wes was grinning and started forward to greet his friends and former teammates as they began to emerge. Eric hung back, watching. Cam and Hunter just stared, awestruck. A ship which had just traveled from a thousand years in the future sat before them on the sand, five people in white jumpsuit uniforms trimmed with black emerging, small blasters strapped to their hips. A tall, brown-skinned woman was first out, grabbing Wes in a powerful hug. They recognized Trip with his green hair, then saw another Asian man, very handsome and smiling in an easily confident way. 

"That's Katie and Lucas," Eric said. "You remember Trip. And - _that's_ Jen." 

A pretty brunette with a hint of awkwardness in her smile had appeared, holding hands with a dark-haired man whose face made Cam blink in surprise. 

"Who's _that_?" 

"That's Alex, the first Time Force red Ranger. Now they've made him the black Ranger. Yeah, it's kinda weird the way he looks like Wes, isn't it?" 

"I'll say," Hunter commented. He glanced at the slight frown on Eric's face, a smirk curving his lips. "Hey, these guys were your friends, weren't they?" 

"Well, sort of. I guess." 

"Aren't you glad to see them? Why don't you - you know, smile or something?" 

Eric gave him a disdainful look. "I _am_ smiling." 

The Time Force Rangers were approaching now. Eric nodded to them, shook hands with Lucas, Trip, Alex, and Jen, and even accepted a hug from Katie. Then Wes introduced the two ninja Rangers. Finally, the amenities taken care of, they got down to business. 

"Our main concern is Frax," Alex said. "He doesn't belong in this time. However, it seems likely that his interference is connected to Lothor becoming active again. We have to stop both of them and recover your friends and family." 

"I brought the trizirium crystals," Trip announced. He knelt on the sand and set down a small case he had been carrying. A large, softly glowing golden crystal was revealed when he opened it. "This should work, I hope..." He looked up. "I need your morphers." 

Cam raised his hands and slowly lifted the loop holding his amulet over his head, suddenly apprehensive. Hunter beat him to it, removing his morpher from his wrist and holding it out. "Try mine first. Just in case," he said with a glance at Cam. 

Trip lifted the crystal out and placed it into a frame on the top of a small device which held it over a slot-like opening. Then he took the morpher and slid it inside. Muttering, "Here goes," he pressed a tiny button on the side. There was a low humming, and then a flare of light, bright enough to make them all blink. 

"Is that it? Did it work?" Hunter asked. 

"The morpher absorbed the crystal's energy." Trip looked up at him as he took it out, apparently undamaged. "Everything looks okay, according to the instruments." 

It was Cam's turn. "This was my mother's," he said, holding his amulet out reluctantly. "Be careful with it." 

Trip nodded, repeated the process, and silently gave it back. Cam put it on, and exchanged a look with Hunter, who had his morpher back on his wrist. Reaching an unspoken agreement, they both nodded and moved away a few steps. 

"There's only one way to find out for sure if they work," Cam said. 

"Right." Hunter took a deep breath and raised his arm. "Thunder Storm! Ranger Form!" 

"Samurai Storm, Ranger Form!" 

There was an echo of thunder as lightning seemed to envelope both of them in a brilliant flash of energy. Two suits materialized from thin air onto their bodies, leaving them transformed, Hunter in crimson and black, Cam in green. They both looked down at themselves and then at each other. Wes grinned and grabbed Eric's shoulder. Katie and Trip cheered. Cam and Hunter, Rangers again, took a step closer together to clasp hands, and then hugged in celebration. 

"Didn't think I'd ever say this, but... it's good to be back in spandex!" Hunter exclaimed. 

Eric's critical eye ran over the Thunderstaff strapped to Hunter's back. "No blaster? No sword?" he asked with the familiar sarcasm. "Just a stick?" 

Hunter's helmeted head turned towards him. "Anytime you wanna take me on, I'll show you just what this _stick_ can do." 

Wes stepped in between them. "Guys, can we draw up some rescue plans for the others first, please? Then, after we've got them back, you can beat each other up all you want." 

- - -

After the minor challenge of transporting nine people plus Trip's equipment in two cars, they reassembled in the comfort of Wes's living room with Philips, the butler, doing his usual flawless job of quietly making food and coffee appear while ignoring what he must have considered a strange conversation. Wes smiled as he glanced around the room. Alex and Jen were sitting side-by-side on one sofa, he and Eric on the other. Trip and Katie were on a loveseat in the corner nearby; Lucas was looking comfortably relaxed in a recliner. Cam and Hunter had taken a pair of armchairs and were saying something to each other, heads bent together with the familiarity of old friends. Or lovers. 

And he had noticed something else. They hadn't said anything, but... Wes caught Jen's eye. "Nice ring," he said, with a glance at her left hand. 

"Oh..." She held it up to gleam golden in the light, her expression a mixture of happiness, pride, and a touch of embarrassment. "Alex and I got married a month ago." 

"Yeah? Congratulations! That's great!" Wes grinned, trying to ignore the small and illogical stab of envy and perhaps even jealousy that jabbed him. 

"Thank you," Alex said, his face when he looked at Jen softening into an expression much warmer than Wes had ever seen from him. He took her hand in his and murmured, "I guess the third time was the charm for us." 

"How about you two?" Katie asked, smiling at him and Eric. "You look like you're still making each other happy." 

"Uh... Yeah, we're doing fine," Wes said. He could almost feel Eric's glare from beside him, and he could see the flash of curiosity in Cam's and Hunter's faces. The glance Katie gave him was apologetic; she must have remembered that in 2005, unlike her own time, being gay was still something many people had reason to keep quiet. 

To his relief, Alex stepped in to change the subject. "Let's get down to business. Do any of you have any idea where Frax and Lothor could be hiding?" 

They all shook their heads. "We destroyed Lothor's ship over a year ago," Hunter said. "And we already looked in the last place he used." 

"You guys took Ransik's prison ship back to your time four years ago," Wes said. "I guess Frax could be using an empty warehouse or abandoned building, but it could take weeks to search them all. We don't even know what city they're in." 

"And neither of them is a mutant," Lucas said thoughtfully. "Our detectors won't pick them up." 

"I wonder what Frax is up to this time?" Jen asked. 

Wes shook his head. "We don't know. I mean, he was really a man once, wasn't he?" 

"Dr. Fericks," Katie said, nodding. "Nadira told us about that. He hated Ransik for destroying his human body." 

"So he had a reason for wanting revenge on Ransik, and on mutants. But he attacked all of _us_, too, and the whole city of Silver Hills. That didn't make sense." 

"So if he didn't make sense then," Eric said quietly, "he probably makes less now. We have no idea what he's after. He could be just working for Lothor for some reason." 

"Well, we do know what Lothor wants," Cam said. "He wants revenge on all of us. On my father for finding out he was using dark magic years ago, on the Wind Ninja Academy for banishing him into space, and on all the Rangers who fought and defeated him." 

"That's why he kidnapped your friends," Alex said. 

"Yes. But he didn't get Hunter, and he didn't get me. Not yet." Cam's eyes turned up to them with a grim smile. "And I have an idea. I think we should give him what he wants." 

After receiving a round of puzzled looks, Cam reached for the green backpack sitting next to his armchair, pulling his laptop computer from it. A moment later it was booting up on top of Wes's living room table. He had insisted on a quick pit-stop to retrieve a few things from Ninja Ops before returning to Silver Hills, one of those things being his laptop; the others were the rest of the powerless Wind and Thunder morphers, which he also took out. 

He typed several commands into his keyboard and a moment later there was movement next to him, then a familiar, not to mention pouty, voice. 

"Lemme guess: it's either Christmas, someone's birthday, or there's a major crisis. It's not like you ever activate me anymore otherwise, dude." 

Cam grinned. 

- - -

_**Mesogog's Island...**_

"Waiting. Years of waiting, during my exile in space. Years of planning, only to have it all destroyed by the Rangers and my accursed brother. Months trapped by that lizard, Mesogog, waiting to be released and restored to my normal size. I'm sick of waiting!" Lothor slammed what looked like a roll of paper down on a worktable in their underground 'factory', snarled, and turned to pace across the room. 

Frax did not sigh, since he was not human, but perhaps some small part of him wanted to. He had begun to find Lothor's speeches tiresomely predictable. Worse, they had nothing to do with the destruction he craved. 

"And now, waiting for my revenge, for the chance to make my brother wish he had never gotten me banished into space... but nooooo, the last two former Rangers still elude my grasp." Lothor reached out, fingers curling as if to crush his absent enemies. "And there's my numbskulled nieces, Marah and Kapri. They turned on me, too, and joined that inane ninja school. I think I'll leave them there; no doubt they'll destroy what's left of the Academy with their sheer stupidity, with no help from me." He paced back, picked up the cylinder of paper and waved it in Frax's direction. "I have waited too long to use this again!" 

"What is that?" 

"This is the Scroll of the Dark Ninja Powers." Lothor sighed reminiscently. "I once used those powers to turn my brother into a guinea pig." 

"The brother who is now your prisoner? He looks quite human to me." 

Lothor waved a hand dismissively. "Yeah, well, the spell somehow got broken or wore off. How was I supposed to know these things come with expiration dates? Anyway, after refreshing my memory, I now think I can turn them all into any critter I choose. They could all be guinea pigs for a few weeks, and when I tire of that, I'll turn them into something else - maybe rats or hermit crabs..." 

"There are more effective methods of revenge." 

Lothor rolled his eyes. "Let me guess: Destroy! Don't you ever want to do anything more creative? I think keeping Sensei Guinea Pig and his multicolored minions around to torment will be much more entertaining than mere destruction. Maybe I can teach them to run mazes, or sit up and beg..." 

Frax ignored his words. There were more important things to consider than Lothor's petty revenge. They had a city to destroy, and he had completed the tool to do it. "There is no need to wait. It is finished," he said. 

"Uh? What's finished?" 

"The zord. The robot we will use to destroy." 

"Oh, that. Right, that's nice. As soon as I've captured my treacherous nephew and that other traitor, the crimson one-" 

"We are ready to destroy." 

"-They're bound to return to the Academy sooner or later. Hunter Bradley teaches at the Thunder Academy; he won't neglect his duties forever-" 

"We must destroy." 

"-And when they do, I'll be ready. Ha, yes, I'll be ready, and they won't have those two other Rangers to hide behind this time-" 

"If you had brought the required materials from your previous hideout, I could have constructed a zord for you as well, but since you failed..." 

"It was only because of the blasted Rangers! If they hadn't showed up, I'd have both my zord and the last two ninjas!" 

"We could both have been ready to destroy." 

"You have rather a one-track mind, don't you? Where was I? Right: I don't know where those two came from - this part of the world seems to have Rangers crawling out of every nook and cranny-" 

"We must begin to destroy." 

"-And these ones were just like the rest of them... Of course they had their own little battle cries, just like all those ridiculous do-gooders... 'Time for Time Force', indeed! 'Quantum Power!' What nonsense!" 

"Time Force?" 

"Yes, Time Force Rangers! What of it?" 

"You battled the Time Force Rangers? Did you destroy them?" 

"No, I didn't destroy them! Strictly because they took me by surprise and I didn't have enough kelzaks with me, you understand!" 

"Time Force..." 

Frax was only vaguely aware of Lothor as the evil ninja abruptly stopped his pacing, staring intently at one of the monitor screens they had set up to keep watch around the Wind and Thunder Academies, in the city of Blue Bay Harbor, and outside a sports shop that Lothor seemed to think the former Rangers might visit. He did not react as his new partner bent closer, hissing in triumph. 

"There he is! One of them, anyway. And alone." Lothor straightened. "When opportunity is offered, I take it. Kelzaks!" He looked around for the obedient drones, a few of which were always nearby, and pointed at the screen. "Bring my nephew to me!" 

Frax started for the door, not turning back as Lothor's voice came from behind him. 

"Where are you going? Don't you want to see this?" 

"The zord is ready. I will use it now. I must destroy the Time Force Rangers. I must destroy Silver Hills." 

"Oh. Well, have a nice time." 

Frax was no longer listening, as another piece of code in his reprogrammed robot brain activated. There was no need for more delay. He would go now to fulfill the mission that had waited for the last four years. Ransik had given the order, and that order still stood. _I must destroy._

- - -

The bespectacled Asian man in the black leather uniform with the green trim was walking solemnly by himself along the edge of the pond outside the holographic entrance of the Wind Academy. He seemed to be deep in thought, the frown on his face never lifting as he stopped every now and then to either throw a stone into the water absentmindedly or to just stare over the glistening surface. He let out a heavy sigh and was just about to plop down onto the mossy ground when abruptly, he was no longer alone. 

Four kelzaks appeared around him out of thin air and the young man had no time to react before his arms were seized by eight gloved hands. An instant later, all five figures de-materialized in a flash of light, leaving behind nothing but the serene chirping of unseen birds in the trees. 

- - -

The invisaportal opened right before Lothor's makeshift throne. The four kelzaks holding on to the young man pushed him down to his knees in front of their master's chair, bouncing up and down and hissing in triumph. 

Lothor leaned forward, casting a long, gleeful look at the boy before him. "I told you you weren't safe anywhere, nephew," he said, victory dripping from his voice like honey. 

The samurai slowly lifted his head until his gaze was locked with the masked man's, then gave an exasperated sigh. "You know, I really don't appreciate your bozos interrupting my walk, Uncle-dude. I mean, I had this groovy Zen-thing going there, the whole 'deep-thought' shebang, you know, and suddenly, wham, those guys snatch me right out of it." He pointed at the drones. "And what's with all the bouncing anyways? You really shouldn't let them have all this caffeine..." 

Lothor was out of his throne in one leap. He grabbed the young man by the front of his uniform top and pulled him so close that their noses were nearly touching. "CyberCam?" he cried incredulously. 

CyberCam shrugged casually. "In the flesh." He looked down on himself, then back up at the evil space ninja with a cheeky grin. "Well, maybe not exactly flesh..." 

"ARGH!" Furious, Lothor gave his nephew's holographic twin a vicious shove that sent him stumbling backwards a few steps. "I can't believe he fooled me again!" 

CyberCam tugged at his crumpled leather jacket with a look of hurt dignity. "Hey, where's the love, man? I'm family, too, you know." 

Lothor pointed a finger at him. "What's going on here? What's my cursed nephew's plan with you?" he asked in a dangerously low voice. 

CyberCam put his best indignant face on, shrugged and said, "I dunno, dude. Cam activated me, told me it was time to get in touch with my inner, holographic ninja and sent me out into the woods to do some...what did he call it?" The hologram scratched his head, looking bewildered for a moment, but then he snapped his fingers. "Oh yeah... introspection!" 

Lothor glowered at him; the evil space ninja seemed to gauge whether CyberCam was telling the truth, only to make the apparent decision that it really didn't matter. 

"You are a computer-generated nuisance and of no use to me," Lothor snarled, then motioned to his kelzaks to apprehend the ninja-twin again. "Take him to the dungeon to join the others; I'm going after Frax. If you-" he cast CyberCam a dark look, "-are here, perhaps that means the real Cam is in Silver Hills, undoubtedly joining up with those other Rangers and trying to stop that fool-robot's destruction spree. I'll get him there." 

He turned and strode out of the room without looking back as the kelzaks wrestled CyberCam through another door and down a murky stone corridor. At the end of the tunnel, they unbolted a heavy steel door and unceremoniously shoved him inside. 

Even while the door was still closing behind him, the five inhabitants of the small room had already scrambled to their feet. CyberCam gave them a crooked grin. 

"Yo, whazzup, homies? I bear greetings from the Green and Crimson ones. Oh yeah, and a rescue plan." 

Five faces contorted into various expressions of puzzlement and then everybody was talking at once. 

"CyberCam?" 

"What's going on...?" 

"Where are Cam and Hunter?" 

"Are they all right, what...?" 

CyberCam held up his hands. "Whoa, tune it down, y'all. I got the lowdown for you, no worries." 

Sensei Watanabe took the hologram's arm. "Yes, tell us what has been happening. We have been quite worried about Cam and Hunter." 

Happy to be the center point of attention, CyberCam gladly complied. "All right. Cam didn't have a whole lot of time to brief me on all that's been going on, but here's what I know..." 

- - -

To Be Continued... 


	6. A Team Divided

Cam, Hunter, Wes, Eric and all other characters from Power Rangers belong to Disney/Saban. We are using them without permission, however we have not and don't expect to make money from this. 

This story is a collaboration between Cmar and MzDany. While it is action/adventure, it also contains slash, in the form of Wes/Eric and Cam/Hunter. It's based on background events in MzDany's C/H slash series and Cmar's 'Red Fire' slash series.

* * *

A Team Divided

- - -

"Well?" Hunter asked for at least the tenth time. 

"Almost." Cam looked up for a second to catch his teammate and lover's eye with a reassuring glance before bending over his laptop again, trying to narrow in on the homing signal that CyberCam's tweaked program was transmitting. Beside him at the table in the Collins living room they were using as a workspace, Trip was mumbling something to himself as he made some adjustment to his own scanning equipment. "I've got a direction and a distance. Just have to locate it on the map..." 

"Reefside," Trip said. 

"Huh?" 

"A town called Reefside, not far from here." He looked up. "CyberCam's tracking signal is coming from just outside it. A small island, it looks like." 

"Christ! Mesogog's island!" Hunter exclaimed. "Why didn't we think of that? Lothor teamed up with Mesogog; he was probably there before!" 

"Looks like an underground location," Trip continued. 

"So it could have survived the explosion of Mesogog's fortress," Cam said. "Might even have some leftover equipment and stuff, and it would be a good place to hold prisoners. Yeah, it makes sense." 

"Well - let's go!" Wes said. 

"Can't argue with that," Jen said with a grim smile. "We can summon the Time Flyers and get there in a few minutes." 

"Excuse me, sirs?" They all looked up to see Philips in the entrance, his eyes wide and his expression uncharacteristically flustered. "Ladies..." he added with a nod at Jen and Katie. "I am very sorry to interrupt, but perhaps you should turn on the television." 

- - -

_I must destroy..._ Frax did not feel satisfaction in the human sense as his new robot stalked the downtown streets of Silver Hills with footsteps as heavy as thunder, only the sensation of his programming completing itself. The zord swung a long arm into the top of a building, crumbling the masonry to a chorus of screams from fleeing humans. 

It was just as Ransik had ordered. He was back in the year 2001, the images of that time blending into the dust and debris he saw now. "I must destroy," he repeated mechanically from his familiar position inside Doomtron, and continued on his way. 

- - -

_"For those just tuning in... It's like a scene from four years ago, as a giant robot attacks the center of the city... We have no reports of casualties yet, but that's sure to change."_ The television reporter's voice quavered, barely holding on to a professional tone. _"The big question this time is - can the two Rangers who are left defeat this monster? Will the rest of the team show up for this crisis?"_

"This has to be Frax's work," Alex said grimly. "We have to stop that attack. Sorry, Cam, Hunter." 

"But if Frax and probably Lothor are away from the island, this is the perfect time to save our friends!" Hunter objected. 

Alex's eyes were unyielding as he pointed to the mob of shoppers fleeing a mall on the television. "There are lives at stake, Hunter, innocent civilians' lives. Their safety has to be our priority." 

"He's right," Cam said. "The two of us can go and free our team. It's lucky we brought their morphers for you to recharge; we can take them along. Then, all of us can join you to stop Frax and Lothor." 

"He's got a point," Jen said. "It's a good plan." 

"Except - you could get there faster on the Eagle," Wes said. He faced Eric, seeing him frown. "It's the fastest and smallest transportation we have. It would save time, and it has the best chance of getting onto that island without attracting attention." 

"And - and I can program your morpher to detect CyberCam's program, so you can find him quickly," Trip chimed in. 

"With the Q-Rex gone back to our time and decommissioned after it was damaged in 2001, Eric has no really big weaponry," Alex said, ignoring the Quantum Ranger's increasingly annoyed expression. "It makes sense for him to go, with one of you." 

"Which one?" Hunter asked, as he and Cam exchanged a long look. 

"I'll notify Captain Logan in our time to send the Time Flyers and the Time Shadow, but if either of you has any kind of heavy weapon he should stay here to help us." 

"Then I'll go." Hunter held Cam's eyes. "My zord's gone, but you have the Samurai Star still ready, and you can use it now that you can morph again. That could be useful fighting Frax and whatever Lothor may have up his sleeve." 

"All right." Wes saw Cam swallow. He could imagine why; he wasn't entirely happy having himself and Eric split up either, plus of course the ninja would probably rather be rescuing his father. And there was the factor of Eric and Hunter's mutual hostility... 

"Hey - don't I get anything to say about it?" Eric demanded. 

"Of course," Wes said. "What do you think?" 

"I think I don't like it, but it makes sense. Let's go." 

A few minutes later, after final preparations, they had all trouped outside. As Cam and Hunter drew away from the others, Wes pulled Eric aside, far enough for privacy. "Good luck," he said. "Be careful." 

"Getting those guys out should be a piece of cake. You're the one going into a dangerous situation." Eric's eyes were concerned. "I wish I was staying." 

"Hopefully you'll be back soon, with reinforcements. And remember, Lothor may still be there, so you may be walking into a fight yourself." Wes smiled and touched his partner's arm lightly. "Speaking of fighting... You and Hunter just try not to kill each other, okay?" 

Eric shrugged, his eyes turning in the direction of the two ninja Rangers. "He's all right, for a kid. Besides, I'd hate to bust up a matched set like that." 

"You picked up on the two of them, then. I was wondering how well your gaydar's working these days." 

"I knew about you, didn't I?" Eric's face softened into a quick smile before they both headed back and waited for Cam and Hunter to finish their own conversation before their hopefully brief separation. 

A few yards away, Cam handed Hunter a small black pouch. Knowing it contained the now active morphers for the rest of the team, Hunter fastened it around his waist, then looked over Cam's shoulder, mindful of the potential spectators slowly assembling in Wes's front yard. His blue eyes fixed the samurai with a sizzling gaze that had to suffice in place of the kiss he so sorely wanted to place onto his lover's lips, and Cam looked back at him with the same heat from behind his glasses. He leaned closer to the blond man. 

"When this is all over, we'll go back to Disneyland where we'll check into the same hotel and won't leave the room the entire weekend. We'll live off room service and some much-deserved loving." 

Hunter blinked. 

Cam didn't. 

It took a moment, but then the Thunder ninja's face split into a huge grin. "Sure you don't just want to go back to Disneyland to go on those rides again?" 

"We won't be seeing any of Disneyland this second time, believe me, and you're the only ride I'm interested in." Cam grinned back at him, then pulled him in for a quick hug before he stepped back. 

"Watch yourself out there." 

"You, too." 

"Everybody ready? Let's get this show on the road, then," Eric called. He stepped back, raised his morpher, and said, "Quantum Power!" As the light of his transformation faded, the others triggered their own, until all nine were standing in their Ranger suits. Eric spoke into his morpher again, this time calling, "TF Eagle!" A small, stubby - and decidedly one-man - flyer swept down and landed neatly a few feet away. Eric started for it, and without breaking stride leaped up onto the wing. 

Hunter followed, took a better look, and stopped abruptly. "Hey!" He pointed as Eric turned back, one foot inside the tiny cockpit. "There's no room. Where am I supposed to sit?" 

"Right there." Eric gestured down at the wing. "Make yourself comfortable." 

"You've got to be kidding!" 

"Nope." Wes's voice came from the ground. "Just hold on real tight. You'll be fine." 

Hunter retracted his visor and glared at them. "You guys are nuts! No way!" 

"Wes did it, right through a timehole and back." Eric's voice wasn't quite scornful as he slid into the pilot's seat. "But if you don't think you can handle it..." 

Hunter's visor shut again with an audible snap. "I can handle anything you can give out." He lay down on the wing, finding a small handhold on the front edge. "Bring it on." 

There was just a faint chuckle from inside the cockpit as the little aircraft's bubble top closed. Hunter tensed, holding on with white-knuckled intensity as it lifted smoothly and alarmingly quickly into the air. He was not reassured by Eric's voice, pitched low enough that only he could hear. 

"Don't worry; if you don't like it I can arrange a fast trip down for you." 

- - -

Back on the ground, Cam watched, still staring into the sky even though the Eagle had already disappeared. A little distance away, the Time Force Rangers would now be looking to Alex for the next move, and he would have to join in. As he saw Hunter leave, he had realized he was almost completely unfamiliar with the Time Force Rangers' abilities and fighting styles. Plus he was used to being the oldest and presumably wisest of his team, despite the fact that Shane was the ninja Rangers' leader. Now - with the possible exception of Trip, they were all his age or older, and he was certainly the one with the least experience as a Ranger. 

"Feels weird, working with another team, I guess." 

Cam looked around at the sound of Wes's voice. "A little." 

"I thought you seemed kind of - remote." 

"I guess it's not a good time to be unsure of myself. But you guys all know each other, and you've been Rangers longer than I have. I was only the Samurai Ranger for a few months, before Lothor took my powers." 

"Doesn't matter. You saw how well you and Hunter worked with me and Eric. I've teamed up with Rangers from ten generations... and we're all really one team, when you get down to it." 

Cam nodded. "Yeah, you're right. Thanks." 

"Here they are," Alex said, looking up as five small, multicolored aircraft and a larger jet appeared in the sky and zoomed to a halt overhead. He glanced at Cam. "You can come with me in the Shadow Winger." 

"No need." He smiled inside his helmet, pointing to the high-speed helicopter that had arrived right behind the other vehicles. With the help of the Samurai Star, at least he could hold his own with the Time Force team so far. "My own ride's here." 

- - -

Hunter barely managed to hold on as the Eagle dived for the ground, leveled off, and came to an abrupt halt. Feeling his fingers cramp as he unwrapped them from his grip on the wing, he snapped, "Jesus, couldn't you take it easy? I could have fallen off!" 

Eric was already climbing out and stepping over him. "Sorry, kid, but we had to land fast in case they detected us coming in. Besides, I knew you could do it. Now move your butt." 

Hunter opened his mouth for a retort, and then closed it again, unsure of whether he had just been complimented. He got up and followed Eric as he jumped down to the ground. "So what now?" he asked, looking around. They were at the edge of what seemed to be the remnants of a large building which had been violently destroyed. 

"My morpher's picking up CyberCam's signal from almost right underneath us." All business now, Eric started into the ruins. "This must be what's left of Mesogog's headquarters; whatever underground rooms he had set up, the entrance is probably here somewhere. Start looking." 

After several minutes, Hunter was almost ready to give up. This place was _big_... and it was essentially a pile of rubble. It would take weeks to dig through all of it and find some buried entrance. Lothor and Frax were probably getting in and out by teleportation; there might not _be_ any way in... 

And then he got lucky, although he didn't realize that at first. Hunter yelped in surprise and alarm as the surface under his feet shifted and gave way, sending him tumbling down, hitting an exposed wooden beam and sliding under it into a hidden opening in the midst of a shower of pebbles. He fell into darkness, yelling again before he landed on a hard surface and lay dazed, blinking up at a small patch of light above him. 

A shadow blocked the illumination. "Hunter, are you all right?" Eric's voice called. 

"Yeah, I guess. Man, where am I?" 

There was movement, and then a thump as Eric landed beside him. Hunter looked around, seeing dusty steps a few feet away climbing back up to the surface, and a passageway carved out of the rock leading off into the darkness. 

"Good work, kid. You found it." 

- - -

Any satisfaction Cam might have felt at being back in the Samurai Star vanished as soon as they began their flight over Silver Hills and spotted a trail of destruction leading right into the heart of downtown. He could hear the others, dismayed murmurs fading into angry exclamations as they came into sight of the cause, a huge bronze robot which was still striding through the streets, randomly driving the heavy, claw-like hooks it had in place of hands into the buildings as it passed. 

"It's Doomtron! Frax has rebuilt it!" 

"Just like four years ago..." 

"Dammit! We've got to stop this right now!" That was Wes's voice from his red Time Flyer. 

"I'll use the Winger's weapons to try to drive it into the park." Alex's similar voice was calm but determined. "Then we can fight it with a minimum of destruction to the city." 

"I'll help," Cam said, and activated the weapons built into the Star. He took his cue from Alex, following the sleek Shadow Winger as it circled the giant robot, hitting it with a line of explosive blasts, trying to target the same spots. If they could weaken it... 

Doomtron staggered, off-balance as fireballs surrounded it. Turning to face them, it straightened, bringing up a set of cannon mounted on its chest. "Watch out!" Alex shouted. They both dodged, barely in time, as energy beams shot out at them and into the sky. But at least Doomtron was moving in the right direction. Cam flew closer to Alex again, retreating as the golden robot pursued them, feeling his heart thump as they avoided another blast. Then... 

"Time Flyers! Jet mode!" Wes called. The five small aircraft, each in its piloting Ranger's color, pulled together in formation, linked, and joined; reforming into a larger jet. 

"Tornado attack!" Jen commanded. "Get it away from the buildings!" 

Cam watched, steering clear as the now-large jet whirled in a circle at eye-blurring speed. A small funnel of wind formed inside, rapidly grew, and then stabbed down to surround Doomtron. It swept the robot up, lifting it into the air, and tossed it, struggling, to arc over the last buildings and crash back to earth in a cloud of dust. 

They all followed, seeing their opponent struggle back to its metallic feet. They had it outnumbered. Cam had no doubt they would win. But the fight was far from over. And - he suddenly realized they had seen no sign of Lothor. At least not yet. He could only hope the evil ninja did not have some unpleasant surprise waiting for them. 

- - -

"Hey, you called me Hunter." 

Eric gave him a glance, knowing the crimson Ranger couldn't see the amused expression on his helmeted face. "Why not? That's your name, isn't it?" 

"I mean, you called me Hunter instead of 'kid'." 

"Just a moment of weakness, kid." 

A few seconds of silence passed, broken only by the crunching of their boots on the dirt and gravel-floored tunnel, before Hunter's voice came again. He sounded both puzzled and slightly resentful. "How come a nice guy like Wes puts up with you, anyway?" 

"Leave Wes out of this." 

"It's cool with me, you know. I mean, Wes and you." 

"What the hell are you talking about?" Eric stopped and swung around to face him. 

"I mean, you and Wes being together. I heard what that girl, Katie, said about you. Not that we couldn't guess anyway, after we found you guys in your house looking like you just got dressed in a hurry." Hunter crossed his arms, his voice smirking as much as his hidden face probably was. "Like I said, it's cool. Cam and I are together too." 

Eric snorted, partly at Katie and her big mouth. "Yeah, right, kid. It's _cool_." 

"Yeah, it is." As Eric shrugged and started to turn away, he added sarcastically, "What's the matter, you don't believe that either? Do you want me to prove I'm gay, too?" 

Eric looked Hunter up and down and crossed his own arms. "Thanks for the offer, jailbait, but I'll pass." 

"_What?_ I was _so_ not offering anything! And I'm totally legal!" 

"For how long, a whole year?" As Hunter started another angry protest, Eric laughed. "Calm down, kid. I'm just yanking your chain." 

"Well, cut it out." 

"Why, when you make it so easy?" He reached to tap Hunter's shoulder. "Come on, we're wasting time." 

They jogged down the murky corridor, mindful of any surprise ambushes, but the tunnel, as well as every side tunnel they peeked into along the way, was empty. After a few yards, Eric halted and put a hand on the side of his helmet. "Morpher, activate search for hologram program pattern one." 

Before their departure, Trip had programmed his morpher with CyberCam's unique holographic code provided by Cam, and now the screen on the inside of his visor switched to reveal a complex pattern of green infrared-looking lines. For a few moments, it looked like a complete chaos of rapidly moving vertical and horizontal lines, but gradually, the screen re-shaped to reveal the outlines of the corridor they were presently in - as well as a steadily blinking dot. 

"Target located," came the pleasant female voice of his morpher from inside his helmet. "Coordinates seventy-three yards west/south-west of present location." 

Eric elbowed Hunter. "Come on, this way." Then he took off down the tunnel, the Crimson Ranger right behind him. 

Two side tunnels later, they were quickly closing in on the prisoners' location and only a few moments later came to a stop in front of a heavy, double-bolted steel door. Together they threw back both bolts and pushed open the heavy door. Hunter was first over the threshold. Eric could hear the chorus of voices before he even stepped into the room. 

"Hunter!" 

"Oh my god, your morpher's working!" 

"Sweet, dude!" 

"CyberCam was kinda vague about the morpher part..." 

"'bout time you showed up. This ain't exactly the Ritz Carlton, you know." 

Eric chuckled as he entered the cell, seeing three young men and a young woman clustered around the Crimson Ranger, all hugging and backslapping him. Behind his open visor, Hunter had a huge, relieved grin on his face. Eric couldn't help but smile again as Hunter enveloped the short, black-haired boy from his wallet pictures in a bear hug. 

"Not just my morpher's working; all of yours are, too," the blond Ranger said, reaching into the pouch around his waist and distributing the other morphers to his friends, who all cheered and strapped the devices onto their wrists with expressions of pride and joy. 

The Quantum Ranger gave the four leather-clad young ninjas only a quick once-over, but at the sight of the older, dignified Asian man in his flowing robes he bowed. "Sensei Watanabe, your son is anxious to see you again." 

Sensei bowed back, then clasped Eric's gloved hand with both of his own. "I don't know who you are, but thank you for your aid." 

Hunter was suddenly next to his former teacher. "Sensei, this is Eric Myers, the Quantum Ranger. Eric, this is..." 

The sudden sound of alarm klaxons filled the hallway outside with an earsplitting wail. CyberCam dashed to the door. "Uh..oh, boltbrain and paintbrush-head alert, y'all. Coming right at us." 

Hunter and Eric were peering over the hologram's shoulders an instant later. From a side corridor, dozens of cyclobots and kelzaks were already spilling into the hallway to the left of them, every single one of them armed and heading for the cell door. They formed an impenetrable wave of opponents. Eric's helmeted head swiveled from the approaching drones to the ceiling, then to the opposite side of the hallway before he turned to Hunter. "You take the kids that way." He pointed to the right, towards their only escape route. "I'll hold off the metal-heads." 

"No, there's too many," Hunter protested, even as the other ninja Rangers crowded behind him, raising their morphers. "Together we can take down more of them..." 

Eric grabbed his arm, effectively silencing him. "No, you guys need to get to Silver Hills fast and stop Frax and Lothor there. I know what I'm doing, Hunter, don't worry. I'll catch up with you. Now go!" He said this to the Crimson Ranger as much as to the rest of the team, who had by now all assembled around them by the door. Eric drew his blaster and jumped out into the hallway, taking down two cyclobots and a kelzak before the bronze robots even began returning fire. 

Seeing the futility of any further argument, Hunter turned to the others, made a _let's go_ gesture with his head and took off down the corridor towards the only other door set into the stone walls further down the tunnel. 

Meanwhile, Eric concentrated his firepower on the cyclobots; he did not want to risk any of them getting off a lucky shot from their lasergun-blades and accidentally hitting one of the ninjas behind him. But the ratio of cyclobots to kelzaks was almost double and despite his best endeavors, the wave of mechanical bodies drew closer. Eric's eyes darted to the ceiling once more; he knew they were underground, and it looked like hardly any work had gone into fortifying the honeycomb of tunnels and rooms down here. This gave him an idea... He risked a quick look over his shoulder to find that the ninjas had made it to the door down the hall and were just filing through it into the unknown room beyond. 

With them out of the way, Eric felt it safe enough to raise his blaster and fire a rapid succession of maximum power shots into the rough stone above. As the ceiling began to crumble, he took a few steps backwards, keeping up his assault on the rocks over him and steadily, more and larger chunks of stone began raining down into the corridor and onto the cyclobots and kelzaks. The dust was getting denser, beginning to obstruct Eric's view of the enemy, but as he kept up his steady retreat he saw neither robots nor drones stepping through the curtain of grey. Suddenly, a large stone fell to the ground not two inches in front of him and Eric took an involuntary leap backwards. A steady rumbling could be heard now, faint but getting undeniably louder. 

_The whole ceiling's gonna cave in,_ Eric realized with a start. He turned and hurried down the corridor after the ninja team. 

- - -

The room turned out to be familiar to at least one of them in the group. CyberCam pointed towards Lothor's empty throne-like seat. "Hey, this is Lothor-dude's command room," he exclaimed, hurrying towards the door the evil space ninja had disappeared through earlier on. "This way, guys!" 

Following his lead, they spilled through the door and into a smaller side chamber filled with several large pieces of machinery, all humming loudly. 

"The generator room," Blake deduced, and everyone went on to examine the individual machines a little closer. CyberCam was the one who came upon the control panel for the transporter device. "Hey, over here," he called, already punching keys and pressing buttons while the rest of the gang assembled around him. "Sweet! This thing still has the coordinates of the Wind Academy saved in it. Probably from the attack." 

The thumping of boots announced the Quantum Ranger's arrival in the room at the same time as the first tremor ran through the small chamber. 

Together with everyone else, Shane looked up and around. "Why do I have the feeling that this place suddenly isn't so safe anymore?" he wondered out loud. 

"Probably because it's all getting ready to cave in at any moment," came Eric's urgent reply from behind his helmet. "Better get that transporter ready _now_." 

"Went a little overboard out there in the hallway, huh?" Hunter said. 

Eric threw him an unseen glare. "It's keeping the robots and the drones away, isn't it?" 

CyberCam was pushing the last button and an instant later, an invisaportal materialized amid a bright flash of light. The ninjas and Sensei wordlessly dashed towards it, vanishing one after the other as the first showerings of pebbles and smaller stones from the ceiling began. Hunter was the last one to go through, but he hesitated. "You coming, too?" he asked Eric, but the Quantum Ranger shook his head. 

"I'll get back to Silver Hills in the Eagle, and besides, once you've gone through, I want to make sure that was the last transport this machine will ever make," he replied, pointing at the control panel with his blaster. 

Hunter shook his head. "But the ceiling's coming down already..." 

"Kid, will ya go already?" Eric's voice was impatient, but then he nodded towards another, half-ajar door at the far side of the room. "My morpher's detecting the Eagle almost right above us; all I need is to get through there and up the stairs. I'll be fine." He gave Hunter a slap on the shoulder. "Now go. I'll see you in Silver Hills. Don't take too long." 

Hunter was debating on another retort when he saw the portal begin to flicker, ready to destabilize. "All right. We'll get our Tsunami Cycles and then meet you over there." He took one large stride towards it, the portal's bright energy swallowing him up instantly. 

Eric nodded, satisfied, pumped several well-aimed blaster rounds into the control panel and was through the exit door before the massive gadget even began to explode. 

It took him less than two minutes to reach daylight, but by then, dozens of cracks were already appearing all across the island's surface. 

Eric wasted no time sprinting towards his flyer. The tremors beneath his boots were growing more violent with each passing moment and the Quantum Ranger breathed a sigh of relief once the Eagle was airborne. As it gained altitude, Eric took a last look back. The island was visibly collapsing upon itself, slowly sinking into the sea. 

With a grim determination, he sped ahead, towards Silver Hills. 

- - -

To Be Continued... 


	7. Clash of the Titans

Cam, Hunter, Wes, Eric and all other characters from Power Rangers belong to Disney/Saban. We are using them without permission, however we have not and don't expect to make money from this. 

This story is a collaboration between Cmar and MzDany. While it is action/adventure, it also contains slash, in the form of Wes/Eric and Cam/Hunter. It's based on background events in MzDany's C/H slash series and Cmar's 'Red Fire' slash series.

* * *

Clash of the Titans

- - -

Doomtron might have been damaged, but there was no way to tell as it stood, waiting for them, in the clearing its fall had torn in a patch of forest in the park. Wes took a second to look for signs of people in the area, and to his relief found none. At least they could go all out without fear of killing someone, although damage to the trees and wildlife was bad enough.

"Megazord mode," Alex's voice said in his communications link. The Shadow Winger turned in midair and transformed, a process as startling to see as the one that changed a normal human into a Power Ranger. It slowed, parts reconfiguring until it took on the shape of a huge, armored humanoid robot and landed on its feet with a heavy thump, now as the Time Shadow Megazord.

"Remember how to operate the Time Force Megazord, Wes?" Jen asked.

"Hey, it's like riding a bicycle. You never forget. Time Force Megazord, Mode Red!"

In an instant Wes was taken back four years to what he realized he'd started thinking of as the 'good old days', as the flyers separated from their jet configuration and changed position around him before rejoining into a second humanoid shape. As the dizzying maneuver completed, he was automatically relocated into the megazord's control room, where he dropped into place behind a control console. Jen, Lucas, Trip, and Katie had appeared next to and behind him.

"Samurai Star Megazord!" commanded Cam's voice.

Curious, Wes paused a moment to watch as the Samurai Ranger's combination helicopter and jet underwent a similar transformation, its rotary blades changing shape to become a star-like breastplate over its giant robot form.

He jumped as a familiar voice came over the link, more mechanical than he remembered but still recognizable. "_I will destroy you._"

"We'll see, Frax," he said grimly. The three of them faced Doomtron. The odds were on their side - and yet, Wes remembered fighting the previous version of Frax's ultimate weapon with this same megazord and the Q-Rex, which was probably the most powerful fighting machine Time Force had ever built. They had come close to losing then.

But a glance in the direction of the destruction already marring downtown Silver Hills wiped out any doubts. There was no way they would let the city suffer the way it had four years ago. They would win because losing was not an option.

- - -

The Invisaportal had deposited Lothor right outside Silver Hills City Hall, from where he had watched Frax's initial attack.

With a highly satisfied sneer he viewed the chaos all around him; the terrified cries of the fleeing civilians clogging the streets, chased by his army of kelzaks and cyclobots, was sweet music to his evil ears. Further up ahead, in a park of some sorts, Frax's Doomtron zord was battling what seemed to be three other Megazords.

_Probably those two pesky red Rangers' zords,_ he thought, his grin widening as Doomtron drove forward and landed a blow that had one of the other huge machines staggering precariously. It made him laugh out loud with glee, savoring his temporary partner's imminent victory for a moment, before he re-focused on the objective of his own mission, namely to find Cam and Hunter.

_First, a better vantage point..._ Lothor looked around. In a tiny decorative park just in front of City Hall, on top of an eight-foot stone pedestal, stood the bronze statue of six helmeted figures. Their left arms were raised in a uniform pose.

Silver Hills' heroes. The Time Force Rangers. Lothor wanted to hurl at the sight.

With a cry of rage, he launched half a dozen powerful energy beams at the statue, toppling it almost instantly. The sculpture barely touched the ground before the evil space ninja had already leapt onto the pedestal.

"Ah, much better." With a content nod he surveyed the near-anarchy all around him from several feet higher up.

"You there!" he called to the nearest kelzak, "Take as many drones as you can and scour the city for my nephew and the blond Thunder ninja!" The drone bowed and scurried off, avidly motioning to all its nearby clones as it went.

Hands on his hips, Lothor once again let his eyes wander over the scene below him, soaking up the aura of chaos, fear and utter destruction all around him. A wave of adrenaline surged through his system and he fixed his gaze back onto City Hall.

"Well, might as well do something productive while I wait," he smirked, and flicked several beams from his wrist towards the building's front entrance. The huge oak doors disintegrated, the shockwave shattering every single window on the ground floor into millions of pieces. Screams could be heard from inside, and Lothor cackled. "Ah, it's good to have a hobby!"

He launched more beams, this time not even aiming, getting more and more caught up in the same mindless destruction his golden counterpart was engaged in halfway across the city.

He was enjoying himself immensely - until he heard the distinctive sounds of multiple engines rapidly drawing closer behind him. His head swung around and for a moment he was frozen in shock at the multi-colored sight.

"NO! It can't be!"

- - -

Doomtron attacked swiftly, charging forwards straight at the Time Force Megazord. Wes wondered if Frax's robot remembered fighting and almost destroying them before... if it was capable of memory... but that wasn't the same Doomtron, he reminded himself. Maybe Frax remembered. As they were all shaken by the impact of collision, there was no more time to think about it.

"Come on, guys! Fight it!" Jen shouted over the clank and rumble of metal.

"Man, we're out of practice..." Wes pulled out the sword controller and swung it. The giant zord echoed his movement and struck out at the bronze robot with its weapon, while using its shield to fend off the hooked limbs reaching for them.

"It's just as strong as before!" Trip cried.

"Look! Out there!"

Wes turned his head at Katie's shout, glancing back at the city streets visible on their viewscreens where he saw a mass of cyclobots, plus the strange, black-suited kelzaks Lothor commanded. They were attacking, with no one to stop them. Just as he was wondering whether they should split up to protect the people he saw running...

"Hey! It's Hunter!" Cam's voice shouted. "And they got the others out!"

"They made it!" Wes found himself grinning in relief as five colorfully suited figures came into sight and began to cut into the ranks of drones.

Eric must be out there too, somewhere, and hopefully safe. But he realized he might not be able to say the same for themselves as Doomtron's chest cannon opened fire on them. The Time Force Megazord staggered back, almost throwing Wes off his feet as it toppled onto the ground with a deafening crash.

- - -

The TF Eagle swooped down in a wide loop over downtown Silver Hills just in time for Eric to see the black-clad and masked figure blow the Time Force Rangers' statue to microscopic pieces. "Hey, I earned my spot on that pedestal!" he cried in outrage. "You are so going to pay for this, _buddy_!"

But before he could circle back and get low enough to aim the Eagle's weapons, a deafening crash vibrated through the air. Eric yanked his head around just in time to see the Time Force Megazord go down.

"Wes!"

Without hesitation, Eric steered his aircraft away from City Hall and towards the park.

- - -

_"Wes!"_

"Eric!" Wes shouted in reply as the familiar voice came through the communicators.

_"Hang on!"_

He could hear an indrawn breath from Jen as they saw the TF Eagle soar into view, firing its lasers towards Doomtron. The huge machine, however, was completely unaffected. Almost casually it raised a hand, swatting at the Quantum Ranger's agile aircraft as if to shoo away an annoying mosquito.

Eric was putting himself at risk to protect them... and he wouldn't stop until he thought they were safe. "Come on!" Wes cried. "We have to get up! Move this thing!" He grabbed at the controls, saw his teammates do the same, and to his relief felt the mighty machine obey, starting to push itself up as the Time Shadow stepped in to draw Doomtron's attack away from them.

"We're all right!" he shouted into the comm. system. "Help Hunter and the others!" To his relief, he saw the small aircraft loop once more, safely out of range of Doomtron's reach, before picking up speed and heading back to the city streets.

- - -

Lothor stifled the urge to rub his eyes. 'It's a trick. It has to be,' he thought desperately as he stared in morbid trepidation at the five sleek motorcycles that had come to a stop a mere few feet from the pedestal. Five color-coded Wind and Thunder Rangers were looking up at him from behind darkened visors, the lasers of their Tsunami Cycles - still smoking slightly from mowing down several dozen of his drones - pointed right at him.

"Give it up, Lothor," the Red Ranger called. "You are not walking away from this one!"

Trying desperately to regain some of his composure, he cast a covert glance beyond the Rangers to where the remainder of his drone army was assembling itself. He willed himself to look smug as he glared down on the five teens. "I'm not falling for this! I don't know how you escaped the island, or how you got your oversized BMX bikes to work again, but you do not have your powers back." He crossed his arms as he spoke. "I'm impressed by one thing, though. That any costume store would be carrying these suits already when it's still two months until Halloween!"

"Our suits are as real as our recovered powers," Dustin cried. "And you're gonna get a taste of those right now!"

"So it's come down to this, eh?" the evil space ninja snarled. "Face to face, mano a mano. Just you Rangers and me..." Lothor leapt into the air in the midst of his sentence and somersaulted, yelling while still airborne, "...and my drones! Kelzaks! ATTACK!"

Promptly, faithful drones were swarming over the assembled Wind and Thunder Rangers from behind them like a herd of locusts.

Lothor landed sure-footedly next to the Crimson Ranger's Tsunami Cycle. Hunter reached for his Thunderstaff, but before he could unsheathe it the evil space ninja grabbed the front of his suit with iron fingers, lifting him right out of his seat. An instant later, Hunter found himself sailing through the air. Upon his descent, the Crimson Ranger instinctively rolled off his shoulder, but Lothor was already on him again. A fist with the force of raw evil behind it connected with his chest, forcing the air from his lungs. Then suddenly, Lothor was behind him and a leather-wrapped arm forced its way under Hunter's helmet and around his throat.

"One down, five more to go," the masked ninja's voice sounded snidely.

- - -

Cam watched in dismay as the megazord containing the five Time Force Rangers was hit hard and collapsed. He could only hope they were all right... Eric's TF Eagle appeared in another instant, narrowly avoided being swatted, and then zoomed back into the city as the Time Shadow moved in. Now it was up to him and Alex to continue the fight against an opponent that had just proved how strong and fast it was.

As he hesitated, the Shadow Megazord moved closer, stopped, and fired a rocket at point-blank range. It hit Doomtron, the force of the explosion driving both machines apart. Shadow then raised a large, double-edged sword and attacked, bringing it down. Doomtron blocked, almost knocking the weapon out of its hand.

"Hold on, Alex!" Cam shouted. He triggered a spider power sphere, sending it out to entangle Doomtron's powerful arms, pinning them down and dragging the robot back a step. But then he faced the danger himself as it turned, raised its clawed hands, and cut the bonds.

"_I must destroy,_" came Frax's flat, robotic voice again.

"No good!" he heard Alex call. "We're not strong enough on our own. Can that thing combine?"

"With the Storm and Thunder megazords, yeah, but..."

"Let's try it!"

"We'll need a minute!"

"You've got it! Mode Blue!" he heard Wes shout from the Time Force Megazord. It was back up, and changing again, this time to a lighter, more agile-looking form. It took a running step and lifted into a kick, heading off Doomtron's attack as his and Alex's megazords moved closer together. He reached for the combination triggers... No telling if this would work, but if it did... They would gain new weapons from the hybrid machinery that would result, hopefully stronger ones.

- - -

Hunter fought against the surge of panic as his air supply was abruptly cut off. He tried to get a grip on the suffocating arm while attempting to land some backward kicks and punches - anything to get some air back into his already fuzzying brain. It was to no avail; the pressure against his windpipe was relentless. Hunter wished he could call out to Blake, but his brother as well as everyone else was fighting an unabating tide of robots and drones at least thirty yards away. They would not reach him in time...

Then, out of nowhere, Lothor stumbled forward with a cry of pain and the chokehold around Hunter's throat loosened just enough for him to wrestle free and stagger away from the evil ninja's grasp. He coughed as the air rushed back into his lungs, clearing his vision enough to see Lothor trading kicks and punches with a red-clad figure. Eric.

Hunter looked up; the Time Force Eagle was circling overhead. Eric must have leapt right from his flyer and literally onto Lothor's back.

The Quantum Ranger landed a kick that had the masked villain stumbling back a few paces and suddenly he was beside Hunter. "You okay, man?"

Hunter nodded. "Yeah, thanks, but I was just getting ready to finish him off," he croaked.

Eric's helmeted head turned. "Uh...huh, yeah, sure, kid."

Hunter pulled his Thunderstaff. "Well, now that you're here, I guess you can pitch in," he said, taking pains to sound dignified before he charged the evil space ninja. Eric shook his head, chuckled and pulled his Quantum Defender, converting it to blade mode as he rushed after the Crimson Ranger.

But Lothor was strong. Even with two Rangers tag-teaming on him, he still managed to dish out a fair share of painful hits. Eric went sailing through the air after a vicious punch, the evil ninja immediately following up with a series of purple energy discharges from his wrist which would have struck the Quantum Ranger dead on if Hunter hadn't converted his Thunderstaff to shield mode in a lightning-quick move to deflect the beams.

Eric scrambled back to his feet to watch Lothor dodge his own reflected energy shots. "Looks like you do know how to use that stick of yours after all."

The comment was half-approving, half-cynical, and Hunter couldn't help himself. He turned to his red counterpart. "Yeah, and mine's bigger than yours." He nodded at Eric's blade, then dashed off for another attack on Lothor.

Eric decided to let that one slide for now, turning instead to check on the status of the rest of the team. The four Ninja Rangers were braving the army of mechanical enemies, but Eric could see from their body language that they were tiring. Clearly, the kids needed help.

His eyes went to the low-flying aircraft circling on auto-pilot overhead and he raised his morpher. "TF Eagle," he called out, "concentrate firepower on all non-human life forms!"

Immediately, the sleek little flyer's weapons deployed, sending a spray of laser fire into the sea of mechanical bodies below. Satisfied, Eric clutched his Defender a little tighter and went to help Hunter pound on Lothor.

- - -

"We can't hold on much longer..." Lucas' voice was strained, almost as if it was his own body that was being battered by Doomtron's swinging hooks and blasting cannon.

"Look out!" Wes couldn't tell who had screamed it as they were all thrown violently out of their places to crash against one wall, bounce, and fly into the opposite side in a bright burst of forced demorphs. Dazed, he realized the megazord had fallen again. The control room was rapidly filling with smoke. As he tried vainly to untangle himself from wreckage and his teammates, Wes looked up at the displays showing the monster looming over them, preparing to finish them off... until another giant lumbered into view.

"Look! They combined!" Jen said. "Look at that thing!"

They watched as the combined Time Shadow and Samurai Star megazords - 'Shadow Star' was the name that sprang into Wes's mind - stepped in to take over the fight. Wes felt his heart pound as it raised a heavy sword and spun it with surprising speed into Doomtron's bronze side. The giant robot staggered, sparks showering from a gash, but then it charged again, plowing into the new megazord and driving it back relentlessly.

"Alex, watch out!" Jen cried.

"_Destroy. I must destroy,_" they heard Frax repeat.

"Man, can't he say anything else?" Wes muttered. "But he'll _do_ it if they can't stop him..."

Faintly, he heard more voices over the communications link: both Alex and Cam, in unison. "_Time Strike Power Sphere!_"

Breathlessly, they watched as the Shadow Star's chest hinged open and a brightly gleaming green and black metallic sphere shot out. It hung in the air, spinning, for a moment, before its surface opened and released a stream of translucent globes, like soap bubbles. They flew at Doomtron, bursting as they struck in multicolored flashes, more and more of them, faster and faster, until their target was blanketed in destruction. Now frozen in place and helpless, the robot disappeared in a blaze of explosions.

"Wow, it's-" Wes was cut off as a fireball roared out from Doomtron, so bright he had to shield his eyes. He felt a wave of heat as the megazord rocked with the impact. And then it was over, the silence that followed seeming to echo with the violent conflict that had just ended.

- - -

The brilliant white light came a second before the ear-shattering explosion from the several blocks away, and Lothor knew instinctively that Frax was no more. The incandescent flare of Doomtron's destruction halted the battle between him and the two Rangers for a moment as all three reflexively held up their hands to shield their eyes. With his ally gone, Lothor made up his mind in an instant and used the brief moment of distraction to yank his remote control out of his coat pocket. He depressed the button � and depressed it again. Eyes widening in surprise and apprehension, he stabbed the button a few more times until Hunter's voice made him look up.

"Oh, did we forget to tell you that your transporter is busted?" The grin in the Crimson Ranger's voice was evident.

"Actually, the whole island is busted," the Quantum Ranger chimed in.

"ARGH!" Lothor threw the remote aside. "That's it; I'm going to finish you pesky..."

His words were cut off by the sudden appearance of the Red and Yellow Rangers at the Quantum Ranger's shoulder at the same time as Navy and Blue emerged next to Crimson. Lothor all of a sudden found himself with three Ninja Swords, two Thunderstaffs and a Quantum Defender pointed straight at him. Behind the multi-colored ensemble, heaps of smoldering mechanical parts attested to the fact that there was no more backup to rely on. He was alone.

"Time to wrap this party up," the Red Ranger's voice said and they all took one step forward.

Lothor held up his hands and let out a heavy sigh before he let them fall to his sides again. He rolled his eyes and mumbled, "Gods, I hate it when they win."

- - -

By the time Wes and his team had climbed out of the damaged Time Force Megazord, Alex and Cam had separated theirs and converted them back into their Winger and helicopter forms. They all walked slowly and cautiously between the bits of rubble that had been Frax's creation, and collected into a weary group.

"Any sign of Frax?" Alex asked.

"Just this. Just pieces. He must have been completely blown apart." Lucas nudged a scrap of golden metal with a booted foot.

"I feel kind of bad," Katie said. "From what Nadira told us, he wasn't really evil. He only acted that way because of what Ransik did to him."

"Whatever this Frax was, he wasn't Dr. Fericks," Trip said. He was staring at the readout of a handheld scanner. "There's no trace of human tissue. Only machinery. This was only a robot."

"Where do you think it came from?" Wes asked. "Was it the robot part of the old Frax? Or did someone build a new one?"

Jen sighed. "My guess is that someone - maybe even some leftover cyclobots - rebuilt him without the human parts. Time Force will investigate, but I suspect we'll never know for sure. Either way - he's gone, this time hopefully for good."

- - -

Eric was the first one to spot Wes, Cam and the five white-clad Time Force officers approaching them through the rubble of the hundreds of destroyed cyclobots and kelzaks. Without taking the Defender's aim from his masked captive, he raised an arm and waved.

There was a lot of cheering, congratulating and back-slapping as the two teams met. Hunter introduced his brother and the Wind Rangers to the Time Force Rangers, but not before he enveloped Cam in a bear hug. Wes and Eric settled for a touch on the shoulder and an exchange of relieved nods.

"So what are we going to do with _him_?" Shane jabbed his thumb over his shoulder at Lothor. At that question, the masked villain suddenly straightened up, folding his arms, a smirk beginning at the corners of his mouth. He had obviously come to the same conclusion the Rangers undoubtedly had; that there was no prison on Earth that could safely hold him.

"Cast him back into the Abyss of Evil?" Tori suggested, but Cam shook his head.

"Can't. The new seal is too powerful to be broken. No one can get out - but no one can get in, either."

"Bummer," was Dustin's dejected comment. The others nodded in bleak agreement.

Blake snapped his fingers at Cam. "Shoot him back into space!"

"Too risky. He might find a way to get back here, no matter what backwater planet we banish him to."

Hunter turned towards the Black Time Force Ranger. "Can't you guys take him with you?" The look on the young Thunder Ranger's face behind his open visor all but screamed, _Please!_

Alex sighed; as much as he wanted to take this criminal off the Ninja Rangers' hands, he had to decline their request. "Unfortunately, since he is from this time period, we can neither detain nor bring him to trial in the year 3004. Time Force regulations. I'm sorry."

Perplexed silence fell among the assembled Rangers. It was Jen who finally spoke up.

"We may not be able to take him with us, but that doesn't mean that we can't prep him for long-term detainment _here_," she said, catching Alex' eye. The Time Force leader held her gaze for a long moment, obviously weighing the possible consequences of her unspoken suggestion, but then he nodded.

"I think in the interest of public safety, it would be justifiable for us to assist the local Ranger team in the detention of this criminal." He cast a stern look at Lothor whose face had taken on a worried expression behind his mask.

"Wait a minute, what are you going..."

But Alex had already whipped out his Time Force badge, pointing it in the direction of the masked ninja. Before he could activate the cryogenic beam, however, Cam held up his hand. "Whoa, what are you getting ready to do?"

Without lowering the badge, Alex replied, "First I'm going to shrink him to miniature size, then I'm going to put him into cryogenic stasis inside a cryo-capsule for long-term storage."

"You're going to _freeze_ him?" Cam said, an incredulous look spreading across his features.

Lothor flinched visibly. "Hold on there, I really don't think there's any need to go to such extreme measures," he spluttered, and Cam surprised everyone by nodding solemnly.

"I hate to say it, but I agree," he said. "That does seem like an unnecessarily cruel punishment. Besides, wouldn't that still be considered a Time Force penalty?"

"Well, that's a point, since we technically don't have any jurisdiction here..." Lucas began.

"Is there any way to just leave him powerless, so he can be locked up safely?" Cam wanted to know.

Alex's brows furrowed in contemplation. "Well, if we shrink him, all of his special abilities would be gone. As long as someone in this time would be willing to be responsible for him, it would be safe enough to leave him unfrozen," he concluded.

Cam nodded, obviously more pleased with that option. "Then let's do _that_."

Alex depressed a button on his badge and an instant later Lothor was engulfed in a bright blue beam that gradually contracted in size until it was no larger than a can of soda. And when the beam finally ceased altogether, so was Lothor.

The evil space ninja looked down on his shrunken self with a look of utter horror. "NO, not that again! You can't do this to me. _Not again_!"

Cam crouched down beside his miniature uncle. "At least you're not worse off than you were before," he said, not even hiding his grin as he picked up the little ninja by the back of his leather coat. Feet pedaling, cursing and punching the air with his tiny fists, Lothor could do nothing but glare at the grinning faces of the dozen Rangers inspecting him from all sides.

Hunter elbowed Cam playfully. "Dude, he makes the perfect pet for your dad."

"You're right," Cam smirked, "It's a good thing I kept his old habitat."

- - -

To Be Continued...


	8. Unfinished Business

Cam, Hunter, Wes, Eric and all other characters from Power Rangers belong to Disney/Saban. We are using them without permission, however we have not and don't expect to make money from this. 

This story is a collaboration between Cmar and MzDany. While it is action/adventure, it also contains slash, in the form of Wes/Eric and Cam/Hunter. It's based on background events in MzDany's C/H slash series and Cmar's 'Red Fire' slash series.

MzDany and Cmar want to thank everyone for reading this and hopefully enjoying it. A big thanks for your wonderful reviews; they mean a lot. We would also like to thank each other for betaing! This has been that rare creature, a truly enjoyable writing teamup. Maybe we'll do it again sometime.

There will be a one-shot followup to this involving Hunter and Eric, called 'Playing With Fire'.

* * *

Unfinished Business

"Since Lothor himself admitted that he would have been blown up on Mesogog's island if not for Frax, Time Force has agreed with us that it would not be interfering with history to make sure he never escapes again. So..." Alex held up the container Eric had provided. "We could still freeze him for you, along with shrinking him."

"No," Sensei replied. "I agree with Cam that leaving him frozen for eternity seems cruel. Instead, he will have the opportunity to learn the error of his ways. I even have the perfect place for him to live - a certain small habitat I occupied for a time myself."

Wes smiled along with the others, although privately he thought dooming the evil ninja to a lifetime at hamster size was even more cruel.

"Then I guess everything's taken care of, thanks to Eric for providing an appropriate enclosure for you to take him back in."

Lothor glared out at them. With an outraged expression, he grabbed onto the bars and shouted in a small but angry voice, "You call this appropriate? A _birdcage_? You put the master of evil space ninjas in a _birdcage_?"

"Thank you for the loan, Eric," Sensei said solemnly as he took the cage from Alex and set it down on the sand. "I will return it."

"Don't bother. It's a spare - and he looks right at home in it."

It was dusk on their familiar beach, as the two teams prepared to say goodbye. The ninja and samurai Rangers would be heading back to Blue Bay Harbor, while his former teammates and Alex would return to their own homes a thousand years in the future. That was a separation Wes had become used to over the last four years, and yet once again he hated to see them go.

The ninjas came forward together to bid their farewells, lead by Sensei, who had streaked in from the Wind Academy after the battle. There was a round of handshakes, thanks, goodbyes, and good wishes before they retreated a little and watched as the Time Force team approached Wes and Eric. Katie was first, hugging Wes with her usual bone-crushing strength and shaking Eric's hand. Then Lucas and Trip. The three faced them, smiling with a hint of sadness.

"Bye, Wes. Bye, Eric," Katie said simply.

"Yeah. Or maybe we should say 'so long'," Trip said. "I have a feeling we'll see each other again."

"We do seem to wind up in this time a lot," Lucas agreed.

"I don't want to wish for trouble, but I hope so," Wes said.

As they moved back, Jen and Alex, holding hands, took their places. "It was good to see you again, Wes," Jen said.

"You too." Wes smiled. "The two of you look happy. I'm glad it finally worked out."

"So are we." Alex held out his hand to Wes and then Eric. "And I hope the two of you are just as happy as we are." Eric looked more self-conscious than anything else, but he mumbled a thank-you.

Wordlessly Wes and Jen looked at each other before she stepped forward and they hugged tightly, the memory coming back to him of that hug on the beach, the first time they had said goodbye, when he still believed himself to be in love with her. Her smile was a little shaky as she let go, took Eric's hand, and to everyone's surprise - especially his - kissed him on the cheek, and started for the ship at Alex's side, their teammates behind them.

"Hey!" Trip had turned back. He grinned at the Ninja Rangers. "By the way? I just thought I'd mention that recharging your morphers for this fight had a side effect. You see, the crystals consist of self-sustaining and auto-reinfusing components."

A round of bewildered faces looked back at him. Only Cam wore the beginnings of a comprehending smile. Trip scratched his head. "Well, you see, it's like one of your twenty-first century car batteries..."

"I think what he's trying to say is," Cam interjected, grinning at the green-haired alien, "the Wind and Thunder Rangers are back in business. Permanently."

"Yeah? We're Rangers again, for good?" Expressions of delight broke out on all the once - and again - Wind, Thunder, and Samurai Rangers.

"According to Time Force Command, having more Rangers in this time period will help to neutralize all the interference by time travelers that's happened, so they're willing to leave your morphers active," Trip added.

"Hey!" Hunter called as the Time Force Ranger started on his way again. "I don't suppose you can whip up a new set of zords for us, too!"

There was laughter as Trip grinned, waved, and ran to join his team. Then there was silence as they all watched the little ship start up, rise into the air, and dart swiftly into the dark swirl of the timehole that opened for them. It contracted when they were gone, and disappeared, leaving only an empty sky behind.

The crunch of footsteps on the sand pulled Wes's attention back to the beach, and to the ninja Rangers, Shane in the lead. "I guess it's time for us to get going too," the red Ranger said. "Thanks, guys, for everything."

"Yeah, dudes, you were awesome!" Dustin beamed at them. "We should get together and do this again sometime!"

"Well, maybe not the part with us getting kidnapped and held prisoner," Tori said with a smile. "But I hope we see you again."

"If you come visit you can play with our pet!" Dustin said, with a grin and a nod at Lothor.

"Dustin!"

"Sorry, Sensei."

Blake wrapped an arm around Tori's shoulders as he shook hands with the two of them. "Thanks for looking out for my big bro. Hope he wasn't too much of a pain in the-" He dodged, laughing, as Hunter swiped at him.

Sensei was next, offering a handshake to Eric. As they touched, he paused, looking down and then turning Eric's hand palm up and holding it between both of his. His brows contracted slightly in concentration. "Interesting," he said after a moment. "I sense a very rare elemental ability in you: the power of fire. Dangerous and sometimes destructive, yet most effective when handled carefully. Perhaps someday you could find the time to take training with us, and develop it."

"Uh... maybe. Thank you, Sensei." Eric stared at his own hand as if expecting it to burst into flame before remembering to bow.

"Do you sense anything in me?" Wes asked, grinning, as the older man took his hand next. "I wouldn't mind being able to throw lightning bolts or something."

"Just the power of a kind heart. Not to be taken lightly, for it may command the hearts of others."

Restraining the impulse to say something about Zen masters and inscrutable sayings, Wes nodded. In another moment Shane, Dustin, Tori, Blake, and Sensei had moved away, and stood waiting for their two remaining teammates.

"You know," Cam said, "Now that we have our powers back, anytime you ever need our help, just call. We'd be happy to return the favor."

"Frax was really _our_ problem," Wes protested. "If it hadn't been for him, Lothor would have been toast months ago. The way I see it - you did _us_ a favor."

"Drop by the academy any time. We'll give you a tour."

"Maybe you could use a few ninjitsu lessons, too," Hunter said, with a smirk at Eric.

"Yeah, right. If anyone gives lessons, it'll be me," Eric growled.

"You can demonstrate how to get your butt kicked."

"In your dreams, kid."

"Well..." Hunter's face became serious. "I owe you one for helping me get Blake, and Cam's dad, and our friends back. You were great. Thanks." He stepped forward, arms out.

Eric made an 'oh, jeez' face but allowed himself to be hugged, even patting Hunter on the back as Cam and Wes chuckled. Just loudly enough for the three of them to hear, he said, "Okay, okay. But you have _got_ to stop coming on to me like this."

"We'd better get out of here before you two give me and Wes something to be jealous about," Cam said, taking his lover's hand firmly before Hunter could retort and tugging him away. "Besides, we've got some hotel reservations to make, don't we?"

"Right! A weekend at Disney, bring your own ride." Hunter turned back to wave as Cam grinned. "Bye, guys. Don't be strangers."

"Bye."

"See ya."

Cam's voice was just loud enough to carry to them as he remarked to Hunter, "What do you know, you might actually have made a friend."

"Don't push it."

They re-joined their team, and on a wordless cue, the Wind and Thunder ninjas bowed. As the two remaining Time Force Rangers returned the bow, Wes couldn't help but notice that the six teens, in their black leather uniforms with respective color trims and their morphers proudly strapped onto their wrists, were indeed an impressive and handsome group. Wes instinctively knew they had made new friends for life here.

A few seconds later, Wes and Eric were watching a rainbow of streaks disappearing in the distance as the echoes of Dustin's voice shouting, "Last one's a rotten egg!" faded from the ocean air.

They turned to each other, faces beginning to be shadowed in the dusky light, and joined hands as they started back to their cars. "So, you and Hunter," Wes said teasingly.

"Not my type. He needs to learn not to get mad at every little thing... What's so funny?"

"Oh, nothing." Wes looked at the sunset. "It's too late to go back to work."

"Yeah, I guess."

"Probably too late for me to catch up with Dad for that business dinner."

"You could give it a try."

"I think I can survive without it. Yeah, the way I see it, we have all night."

"For what?" Eric was starting to smile.

"I believe we have unfinished business."

"Really? What?" Eric slung an arm around his neck.

"When we get to your house, I'll give you a reminder."

"Well, okay. On one condition. We hide the cars in the back, turn off the phones, and disconnect the doorbell. Just in case."

- End -

  



End file.
